Eleanor is transitioning to the preschool class while Miranda is staying in the toddler room. Bernard and I had mixed feelings about this, but we told the daycare that we would be okay with Eleanor moving on. This week Eleanor is spending about one hour a day in the preschool class; next week, half the day, and then she’ll officially be in preschool starting February 19th.
The first day, when I came to pick them up, Eleanor was in the preschool room on the floor, dwarfed by five other kids, playing with cars. As you know from my previous posts about “failure-to-thrive”, our kids are tiny, and you could definitely see it here. Most kids in the preschool are three years old, over thirty pounds, and well over three feet tall. Eleanor is about twenty-four pounds and thirty-four inches. Nevertheless, she seemed to be really enjoying herself. The second day, she was sitting at the table, cutting construction paper with scissors. We have never let her touch scissors before, so I was amazed that she was holding them correctly and managing to cut strips of paper. The more I see her, the more I know it was the right decision to let her move on to the next class. The toddler room has kids as young as 18 months who are bigger and taller than our kids, but without language or self-control, so there’s a lot more hitting and grabbing of toys in that class.
Miranda, on the other hand, is still in the toddler room because she’s not toilet-trained. After our failed attempt in November, I’ve been really hesitant to try again, since she really didn’t seem to be ready. And nothing’s changed since then either. When I ask Miranda if she wants to use the potty after getting up in the morning or before her bath, she says “no” right away. When I picked up Miranda from the toddler room, I asked her “Where’s Eleanor?” The first day, she swung her head around, looking for Eleanor, but she had no clue that they had brought Eleanor to the preschool room. The second day she knew, and kept saying, “I want see him [sic], I want see him!” I brought Miranda into the preschool room and she and Eleanor and I all played with the scissors and construction paper until the daycare center closed.
Bernard and I and the daycare teachers are all hoping that separating Eleanor will motivate Miranda to use the potty. I’ve told her that “Eleanor is in the big kids class because she pees in the potty,” but I’m not sure she gets it yet though. So far, neither of them seem traumatized by the separation, but it’s only an hour a day right now. We’re definitely going to separate them for kindergarten, but it’s kind of traumatic for Bernard and me to see them in different classes now.