Little Man is not the only one with a big change of pace this week. My darling girl has started Junior Montessori! (I'd really better stop calling her my baby soon...)
We didn't tell her much about Montessori before she started, as she doesn't have the same sense of waiting and the passage of time as her older brother. They started settling her and her classmates into their new room last week, and then Monday morning was the main event.
When you're not-yet-three, you tend to take simple things like room changes within the creche in your stride. Certainly Little Lady does. So what real changes would she experience this week? Well I'm glad you asked.
1) the bringing of a lunchbox (for snacktime) to creche
2) the removal of her daily nap (it was about time anyway)
3) the introduction of more structured, learning play for a couple of hours each day
These three changes were accepted with varying degrees of success.
First, the lunchbox. Having been caught on the hop the Friday before Little Man started Junior Montessori last year, I was determined that it wouldn't happen again. I've had a blue pirate-emblazoned lunch bag sitting in the press for weeks! Before we got the kids up on Monday, I went downstairs and filled it, then presented it to the little madam for her inspection.
Mere words could not begin to express her delight at possessing this lunch bag. Positively squealing with pleasure, she immediately sat in the middle of the kitchen floor to open the bag and explore the treasures within. Little Man sat down beside her and praised and clapped along as she pulled one magical gift after another from the bag.
"Look!! A water. MY WATER! And raisins! It's raisins IN MY LUNCH! Mammy, Daddy look - it's a YOGURT!".
Christmas morning itself couldn't have brought more joy - things seemed to be going swimmingly.
If you look back at items two and three on our list, you may notice that they don't seem to sit together very well. More work, less rest time. Any chance that could cause a problem? Nah. We'd been reducing her naps anyway, and she doesn't nap at weekends, so I wasn't all that worried about this. On a related note, I am a blithering idiot.
On Monday evening, Little Lady was very, very tired coming home from creche. On Tuesday morning she was just narky. As well as being tired she was ravenous. Seriously ravenous. When I opened my own lunch bag to give her a snack in the car, she ate three cashews without even tasting them. How do I know she didn't taste them? Because she tasted the fourth. And panicked. There may still be cashew nut fragments in the back of my hair, I don't really want to know.
And then Tuesday evening... I knew things were bad as soon as I got her into the car. I only barely got her into the house, hoisting her under one arm like a bag of potatoes. She was so far gone that she didn't even want cuddles or songs (not even Moon River!). I approached her in much the same way that I would an injured lion; speaking soft, soothing words and offering gifts of food. At least lion tamers are armed with a chair.
With all my limbs intact (just) I negotiated a ceasefire based on mutual love and understanding, and a fully-peeled stemless apple. Two bites in she smiled at me. Another two and she sat in my lap. Just one more and she was cuddled up humming sleepy noises. After some healing cuddle time and lots more food she told us excitedly about her day. Any day that involves a pirate lunch, "minding" the babies in the garden, and drawing pictures is ok by Little Lady. She and Junior Montessori are going to get along just fine.
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