In which a Zebra becomes a Duckling.
Can you graduate if you've never gone to school?
Last week Owen joined the ranks of the big boys when he left the babies' room and joined the toddlers. In the promotion from the Zebra room to the Duckling room, Owen officially enters the boot camp of daycare.
Gone are the days of the morning AND afternoon naps. He can have one at 11:30, thank you very little. In addition, there will be no more high chairs (or, actually, low chairs). The enlisted babies eat from tables and use spoons. And, last but not least, you can kiss that binkie goodbye, Son. These Duckling soldiers gotta learn to tough it out.
So we bade farewell to favorite teachers Miss Erica and Miss Becky (pictured left) and sent our boy Owen off to fight the war of growing up. I would call it a moderate success. There was more than a little crying when we dropped him off in the new room-- and the new teachers were more than comfortable letting him and his other little former Zebra buddies bawl it out by themselves on the floor. By the end of the week, however, he was less frustrated.
In fact, he's been bringing his training home. Our little corporal likes to feed himself now. No more cutting up the toast into bites-- he'll take it whole, thank you. He also likes working the spoon for himself. Sadly, on the utensil front, Owen's having a little trouble figuring out which end of the spoon goes into his mouth. As a result, a lot of his food ends up in his hair, eyes and nose. We call this success since all of those are at least in the vicinity of the pie hole.
Now to make the exciting transition from Zebra to Duckling, one must master the all important skill of walking. As you can see, young Owen is discovering his house on his own these days. He moves a bit like a drunk, but he can be surprisingly fast.
The new favorite game is Chase. You can play it one of two ways-- his Mom or I can chase him up the stairs and into our bedroom or, the preferred method, which is where Owen takes Betty's toy and she chases him down to get it back. That one stirs up peals of laughter.
All of this activity has required some additional vocabulary. And, while Owen himself communicates in only ma-ma-ma-ma, da-da-da-da, ba-ba-ba-ba (which we translate to Mommy, Daddy and Betty), he understands a great deal more.
Owen now understands "Eat," complete with the baby hand sign, "Bath time," "Sit down," and the ever popular "NO!" This last will score you a pretty scathing look of disgust when you say it to him. (I can already tell that Owen will make an EXCELLENT teenager.)
As for our other babies, they find Owen exhausting. They nap in teams with a lookout. Toonces, in an act of defiance, has confiscated the boy's chair. And Murray has taken to the high ground in an effort to keep from being de-furred by grasping little fingers.
Who knew one little Duckling could stir up so much trouble?
