Nia House

This week brought more transitions to our family. Lucy started and finished her week at Nia House, the Montessori school where she will hopefully be spending her day time hours from now through kindergarten. We had visited Nia House twice before leaving for our trip to Wyoming and South Dakota and Lucy and I were both a bit overwhelmed by the experience. They ask that parents sit quietly and observe, but my quiet, inactive behavior made Lou feel like she shouldn’t interact either. I came back from our vacation a bit nervous about how she would react to going back to the school again.

As is evident from this first day of school photo at the top, she knew something different from normal was going on. I told her in the car that we were going to Nia House, but this time I had to go do work, so she would say without me and then I would come back to pick her up. She replied, simply, with, “No. No, no.” They were completely prepared for our arrival. And I truly mean our. The director was there to take care of me and Alexis, Lucy’s head teacher, was there to take care of her. It was exactly the opposite of our first time at UCB’s daycare. I kissed my darling girl, told her to have a great and that I would be back soon. I passed her quickly to Alexis and turned around, shut the door, and walked away. My teacher, rational, non-mom brain knew this was the best, least painful way to handle drop off. I heard her start to cry immediately and my mom brain wanted to run back in, grab her in my arms, quit school, and live on a self-sustaining farm in Vermont for this rest of her childhood. I stopped back later with her lunch and Eve, the director, took a picture of her doing “ball ramp work” with an assistant teacher by her side. She looked completely content and enthralled in her work. She ended up having such a great day that everyone recommended we give the opportunity to have her own bed for nap the next day. This meant a full day instead of a half day. I missed her so much all I did was follow her around and smell her all evening, but I was delighted to hear she wanted to meld in with the routine. Sure enough, she choose a bed the next day and was still asleep when I got there to pick her up.

The rest of the four day week went just well. The second drop-off was a little chaotic, but a call to the director reinforced their desire for open and clear communication, again, the exact opposite of our first experience. By Friday, she was waving to her friends and teachers as we walked into the play yard. I asked if she was ready to play and she said, “yeah” (a verbal response she just picked up this week), and she went right into Alexis’ arms on her own accord. My heart melted, I blew her a kiss, and walked away knowing fully she would be well cared for, attended to, and enjoyed.

Nia House is a wonderland for children. The toddlers have two different outdoor play spaces and they play outside EVERY day. I pack a lunch for Louey, but the rules and clear and stringent. There is no room for filler foods and sugar. The drop-off and pick-up expectations are clear and spelled out. There is no part-time care and parents are not invited to drop in whenever they please. This is a world for children. A world where they learn real skills, including care of self, others, and the environment. The first thing the director said at open house last fall was that Montessori works for all kids, but not all parents. The system can feel intimidating at times, but it is absolutely everything we have wanted in day time care for Lucy. She is learning to do real work and she loves it. She washes her own dishes, chooses what to participate in, and puts away her own nap materials. We have seen her expressive language explode after only 3 and a half days there. We ready, “up, up and away!” in a book yesterday and she has been saying that entire phrase over and over again. Until this week, her only two word phrase was, “no, mom. No, mom.”

It is hard to believe my summer time stay at home mom stint is already over. We had a wonderful summer and I am grateful for the temporary opportunity to watch her change and grow for the past two and a half months. This week, though, with time to accomplish goals, clean, organize, and dig into the revision of my first position paper, I feel fully and completely present when I am spending time with her. We made pancakes together on Friday morning and waffles together yesterday morning. I have patience in spades when I don’t feel like I need to do chores, school work, writing, car insurance, housework, etc…all while I am playing farm or climbing with Lulabean on the playground. Yesterday morning all three of us played puppets for half an hour and then went on a long walk to eat dinner on Salano Avenue. She walked most of the way in both directions. Neither of us were in a hurry to do dishes or take out the trash or check schedules because all of that had been during the week. It is also nice to have her care given outside of our home. It makes keeping up at the house feel much more manageable. If we ever have another small human, I wouldn’t want to send them to childcare before 12-18 months. I would want their care to be given by me and/or one or two other trusted people in the comfort of our home. But Lucy is confident and comfortable in her surroundings. She was more ready for this transition than I was.

Lucy has also seemed more relaxed this weekend. Last night she was hungry before bed (she has been pooping at dinner time and not eating much for dinner….errrrr). Jim sat with us on the living room floor for an almond butter bedtime snack. She usually doesn’t like to give him love before bed, but for some reason she couldn’t give him enough love last night. Then, she was done, she kissed him, hugged him, told him “shhhhh” (as in, I am going to sleep now), said “bye bye” and crawled into bed. She was asleep 15 minutes later. It took her 14 minutes to fall asleep for her nap today, no bear hug required. She has been using communication skills more strongly than ever. For example, she is saying help before she gets totally frustrated with a task and is asking people to do things, like, “mum mum, up. Come.” when she wants me to move to a different spot to play. I say this is at every stage, with is different every day, but watching her expressive language skills develop is incredible. I am astounded and blown away by her efforts every day. 

Lucy eating her first piece of candy, a banana
lollipop from the restaurant. She enjoyed it
a little bit too much.