Veihman Family Blog: From a "Moon" to a "Comet"

Along with turning one comes another big development in Reed's life (and mine). He has moved from the infant "Moons" room at the Monsanto daycare into the "Comets" room for one-year-olds.

I'd been anxious for him to make the move for quite awhile. He's been walking for almost two months now, and he is close to running. The infant room just hasn't had enough activity for him, and on top of that, his room has introduced three new infants. He is getting rougher in his play--banging items together, jumping on toys, etc. and I was worried about him being around the younger kids. The ladies at daycare would tell me that he would whimper when the one-year-olds played outside or in the commons area because he wanted to play with them.

Luckily, we got the notification that Reed would be moving to the Comets room the Monday after his birthday and would begin "transitioning." This usually involves taking the child to their new room for a few hours to a half day for about two weeks to get them used to the new teachers and environment. Reed's transition was literally one morning. I dropped him off that Monday in his old room, picked him up that evening in the new room, and that was it. He spent the whole day in his new room and had a ton of fun! He never even went back to the Moons room. It helped in his transition that the Comets room is adjoining to the infant room so he has seen the Comet teachers everyday over the past year, and they have even let him play in their room multiple times over the past two months as he has become more mobile. He was more than ready to become a Comet!

Mommy thought she was ready for the Comets, but I'll admit I had a hard time that first day when I saw him sitting at the big kids table with the rest of the class. I had a lump in my throat as I realized that my baby is growing up. It didn't help that the transition took place at the same time that school is starting for students all over the city. I happened to pick up the Post-Dispatch that same day and read a story about parents sending their kids off to Kindergarten, and I got sad all over again!

From Comets Room

There are several other big changes for Reed with turning one:

A forward-facing car seat.
I'd been dying to turn Reed's seat around for awhile. He's more than big enough, and he was starting to get fussy and antsy being in the car. He's always been a good rider, but lately he just seemed fed up with facing backward. The first time we turned it around, Beau and I were traveling together somewhere. He loved facing forward and seeing everything! I think he giggled and laughed the first three miles.

From Comets Room

Drinking from a sippy cup/giving up the bottle.
In the one-year-old room, kids drink from a sippy cup. Reed had already done this a few times, but a week before his first birthday, we decided to give up the bottle completely and switch to sippy cups. He'd drank from a sippy cup all day at daycare, so I figured we would just continue that through the evening. The first night I tried to give him a sippy cup rather than a bottle before bed, he refused it and cried. I gave in and gave him the bottle figuring that night time wasn't the best time to switch up the routine. However, the next morning when he woke up, I gave him a sippy cup and he had no problem with it. And that was it - no more bottle! What a relief! I was so happy to pack up all the bottles and nipples and get them off of my kitchen counter!! Speaking of something I was happy to get rid of....
Switching from formula to whole milk. Hallelujah! Again, this was no problem at all. He readily took to whole milk, and we really didn't wean him at all. We just switched. Piece of cake!
Sleeping on a cot/taking one nap a day. In the Comets room, they take one nap a day (around 12:30 p.m.), and....they SLEEP ON A COT!! The sippy cups weren't such a big deal, but a COT? How would my baby ever sleep on a cot??? Apparently, if you're tired enough, you have no problem transitioning to a cot. The girls say he does just fine. I asked them if they would be kind enough to take some photos, because I just couldn't fathom what it must look like for him to be sleeping on a cot. They obliged. The one-nap-a-day has also been an easy adjustment. He generally sleeps anywhere from 2-3 hours, though somedays he has come home with only a one-hour nap. On the weekends, he still seems to take two one-hour naps a day rather than one.