Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Kung Fu lessons

Yesterday afternoon while working from home I got a call from Hunters daycare to tell me two things:

1. They had transitioned him into the toddler room

2. While in the toddler room some little devil boy child bit Hunter on the foot! He was fine. They cleaned it off and comforted him and 5 minutes later he was back to playing but they had to let me know.

Hello attack of the mommy guilt for needing to have my child at daycare in the first place.

Last week they mentioned they would be moving him to the toddler room soon. The way the daycare is laid out the infants and toddlers actually share one big room separated by a half wall. So the teachers in both classes are familiar with all the babies and often at the end of the day they'll merge the two rooms once they have less kids. So Hunter has spent time on the "big boy" side before and all those teachers know him and adore him (of course).

Normally babies don't graduate to the toddler room until they are walking or a year old whichever comes first. Hunter is neither, however he is now the oldest, biggest and most mobile baby in the infant room and they think he'll do better with the big kids (and probably learn to walk faster). But that means he's going from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond. He's back to being the youngest and least mobile in the toddler room (he's not the smallest b/c he's a gigantic baby).

I guess this other little devil boy child was jealous of the attention Hunter was getting or maybe Hunter was trying to take his toy, I don't know details, and went in for the attack. Or maybe this is their version of toddler hazing. I should also mention that right now it's ALL boys in the toddler room. They are like a little ankle biting gang.

This morning when I took him in his teacher in the infant room had me bring him back to her side, in large part because she just loves Hunter and isn't ready to give him up to the big kids quite yet. She said she was pissed that he got hurt and is debating keeping him on her side a little longer. I think they plan to have him switch back and forth throughout the day until both he and the other kids adjust.

In the meantime we plan to teach him some Kung Fu so he can defend himself against any other devil boys children. Oh and if anyone has a way to slow time the eff down please let me know because the fact that my 8 1/2 month old is hanging with toddlers makes me want to cry.

7 comments:

Venassa said...

It is SO frustrating when another child hurts yours. I have the hardest time with that because it's my boyfriend's daughter who's always hurting my daughter (there's 8 months between them). He doesn't discipline her as much as he should, so it's always my (much smaller) daughter left crying. At least because Hunter's so big, it won't be long before he can defend himself easily against his attackers :p

Heather said...

Wow, he seems young to be with toddlers, but I guess I can understand their reasoning about it helping him continue to advance faster. Still, it totally sucks that he got hurt, and I'm glad to hear he's OK! Hopefully, the "devil boy" will keep away from him and nothing like that will happen again.

Stephanie said...

I love the his teacher is so protective of him! It's nice to know she has Hunter's best interest in mind!

Brandi Hudack said...

I'd be taching him some kung fu moves to! Mama has to protect her baby. Oh and please let me know if anyone shares a way to slow down time. My baby girl is growing up way to fast (mommy guily #2 for feeling like I miss way to much while at work).

Mrs EyeCanSee said...

Jamie has been bitten four times in the last few months. FOUR! We can't be sure since they won't say, but we think it's one of the girls. Those toddlers mean serious business!

princessapr said...

Aw. We were pretty proud. From like 9 months on, Laura pretty much held her own with her older cousin. She still will handle her own, but she's not a snitch which is nice.

If you figure out how to slow time down, let me know. I just sent the first wave of invitations to a 5th birthday party. Hunter is more than invited if he wants to go to a Halloween/birthday party. Mostly 5 year olds, but we have some smaller toddlers (1-2 years old). I like that we have more than one opportunity to use the costume if I use the theme.

Stephanie said...

Came across your blog through Stephanie's and had to comment...my daughter started daycare at 11 months old and went straight to the toddler room since she was so close to the cut offs. Within the first two weeks, she got bit too and I felt awful!! My husband said he'd kick the kid's ass who did it to her if he did it again, ha! Oh the emotions of being a parent. I definitely think he'll learn to walk sooner being around all those kids. Chloe was walking within 3 weeks of being there (granted she's a few months older than your son).