School Days

For me, one of the hardest parts of leaving Olivia at daycare is not knowing exactly what she is doing. Sure, I have a schedule for her school and I can call/get texts to assure me she’s okay, but, it’s not really the minute-to-minute update that I crave. However, now that Olivia is more verbal and independent, she has been giving us more insight into her day-to-day life at school.

Apparently she does “work” throughout the day. I’m not exactly certain of all the mechanics, but I think the basic idea is that there are different stations with “work” that the kids can do. There is the “real life” station –kitchen, playing with babies, etc. There is another “creative” station with art/coloring. And there is a “skills” station with puzzles and games. Apparently when they are at the skills station, they get a little rug and they put their “work” on the rug. My guess is that this is a good way of containing the puzzles/games so they don’t go everywhere and it gives the kids a defined area in which they can work (and coincidentally, where they cannot work!). Olivia has really taken to this “rug” concept. The other day she pulled down my nice Williams Sonoma towel from the oven and declared it was her “rug” and she needed to “work.” So she went into the toy closet, picked out a puzzle, played with it on her “rug” and then cleaned it up and put it away. Pretty awesome!

However, there have been a few skills she has picked up that are less than awesome! ;)



Another part of Olivia’s day at school is getting from one point to another. Apparently whenever the kids go outside or to music class, they all line up with their hands behind their backs. So lately Olivia has been walking around the house with her hands behind her back. But, the most coveted job during a transition seems to be holding the door. I was not aware of how attractive it is to a 2 year old to be able to hold the door, but Olivia has quickly taught us the ways of Todder 1! For the past few week I’ve noticed this “door holding” allure as Olivia tells me “go ahead mommy” when we leave her room, the bathroom, go into school, etc. Poor Matt had not noticed it…until this weekend….we were hurrying to get out the door and I walked outside first. Olivia was standing by the door “holding it” and said “go ahead daddy.” Matt said “No, Olivia, you go ahead because Daddy has to turn on the alarm and lock the door.” She didn’t move so he kind of nudged her along. Of course, this was met with the fury of a 2 year old and a major tantrum. I quickly explained that she wanted to hold the door for him so he indulged her and opened the door back up, turned off the alarm, and we started over. So we all went back inside and Olivia “held the door.” Matt started to walk through and she pushed him back and said “No daddy. I didn’t call your name. Mommy…you can go ahead.” I’m not sure words can adequately describe the look of frustration/anger on Matt’s face – I am still chuckling as a write this blog. After I was safely outside, Olivia said “NOW you can go daddy.”