Grace's journey

Nursery

Such a bittersweet time is coming upon us, speeding up faster and faster as the time dwindles away. In exactly 2 months, (59 days, or 1416 hours, or 84960 minutes, or5097600 seconds) Grace will be going to Nursery for the last 2 hours of church. Oh...my...gosh. I can't believe that the time is almost here. I'm...am I happy? Am I happy that my little girl is growing so fast that she is moving on to greater things? (Anything is greater than having to sit on Mommy's lap for 3 hours!) I don't understand where all the time went. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself for those two hours that she's having tons of fun with her nursery friends! I guess I'm gonna need another baby!

So anyways, today at church I decided to take Grace into nursery to see if we'd need some "practice days" before making the leap to big girl in nursery without mommy. (I knew my presence wouldn't be necessary. I guess a good thing about Grace's brain problem is that she has a lack of stranger danger. Not just a lack...it's not there! So for this ONE time, it's a good thing!) I wasn't needed, as I thought. She did great. She played, she climbed (kinda), she stood up at a child size car. Hey, she even got to meet the bully of the class (and I had to do EVERYTHING in my MOMMY BEAR power NOT to go growl at the kid for hitting her with a phone. She was fine, no damage, and she didn't cry.) That's another thing about her. Her pain tolerance is pretty high, so I guess that will also be good in Nursery, as she doesn't walk yet, which means fingers are GOING to be stepped on. (Hey, maybe that will help her get moving on those feet more) So I'm happy to say that the transition for Grace will be wonderful going into nursery...I just don't know how my transition will be. I've always had issues with leaving her in a class and leaving, because I'm just so proud of everything that she does, and don't want to miss a second of watching her. I love seeing her interact with her peers (which is RARE) and even more, I like seeing her interact with toys (which she rarely does for "play" purposes as much as "inspect and turn over and over in hand") I think she's going to be very good at making observations about things around her just because of how observant she is, and always has been.

I think my one biggest fear for Nursery, well two really (but they are about the same topic) is that she CAN'T sit in a chair. She can't sit in the normal, feet hanging, no side support chairs because 1. her balance isn't that good, 2. she DOES NOT know how to catch herself from falling to the side when her feet are hanging, and 3. if she turned to look behind her she would fall. So, let me just snap my fingers and show all you readers what does work for my little one! Look below at the FABULOUS Cube chair!
I love this thing...with a passion! This is the best chair that any child could ever use! You can use it two ways...well, actually three. One is this way it's shown, where I feel most comfortable with Grace sitting deep in it, feet on floor, high side supports. The second way is to flip it over and have her sitting higher, feet would be hanging and her side supports aren't as high. But with that, I put a box under her feet, and that gives her more stability. And the third way is to lay it facing down, and the backside works great as a chair for mommy! I love these chairs...this is what they have at the SCOE office, and we use them for the play days. I will have to see what I need to do about renting one from them, because...$100 is too expensive for this! (But in the end, I'll do what I gotta do...and I just saw on Amazon.com that it's only $50...SWEET!)

Oh, I said there were two things I was worried about...the second was the type of food they eat, well, food in general. Grace's eating development is behind (as is everything...gr...optimism mommy, come on!) Anyways, she is still in the eating level that consists of smashing EVERYTHING she eats in her hands to feel the different textures. And because I understand that it's what she needs to do, I allow her to for the most part. But will the teachers understand? And will I need to vacuum the room every time when I pick her up because I KNOW the crumbs on the floor will be from her? Probably, but I'll do what I need to so I don't feel bad! Also, along with the eating comes the choking. Somehow, we need to teach her that she's not supposed to suck the food, but to chew it and swallow. And that crackers WILL NOT go down by being sucked down! I guess I've got two months to get her working on the foods they eat! Or just send my own soft food with her. (I know...stop worrying. She'll be fine.) One thing I love (actually two) is that 1. The nursery worker has 4 kids, so I know she'll do great. And 2. is that I just got a calling so they won't be putting me in nursery. (I asked the bishop :) ) I mean, I would love to be in there with her, but I would always be focused on her and not everyone else. I need to do the breakaway a bit. I need to get back into scripture study, and this will definitely help :) I'm so excited!!

Amanda