From Giraffes to Tigers

Adam is now a Tiger!

Adam has "graduated" from the Giraffe room (18-24 months) to the Tiger room (24-30? months), and the transition couldn't have been easier. Many of his little buddies had already moved to the Tiger room before him and most afternoons they combined the classrooms as kids were picked up, so he was already familiar with the room and some of his new classmates.

They transitioned him over the course of a week, allowing him to spend a few hours each morning and afternoon with the Tigers before making The Switch. Last week was his first full week in his new room, and already his new teachers are complementing us on his intelligence. He's already a favorite in the new room. He is constantly chatting now, especially in the car where he tells us everything he sees. He sings songs and recites books from memory, most of them unfamiliar to me that I now have to ask his teachers which song/book/activity it is so I can share it with him at home. Yesterday we went to the bookstore and bought "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" because that is his latest favorite book to recite.

He still misses his Giraffe room, especially his teachers Ms Helen and Ms Kelsey, and he asks about them each morning when we are getting ready. The biggest differences in this classroom are a more expanded curriculum, introduction to the potty, and learning boundaries. A few of the other Tigers are potty trained, and I can tell he is already benefiting from observing other kids and is starting to make the connection. Each time we change his diaper he asks to sit on the potty at home. It's a start.

I wish you all could see him at 2! He's growing up so wonderfully. He is now in a toddler bed instead of his crib, goes up and down stairs like a big boy (his legs are finally long enough, haha) and has become quite a parrot, repeating everything he hears. His favorite expressions these days are "Careful, Adam", "Good job, Adam", "Oo-ba-daisy" (Oops-a-daisy), and occasionally a humorous "Oh, man!" He now gives us directions, or rather, grabs our shirt/pant/hand and brings us to where he wants us. If he's swinging, he requests you swing beside him. If he's on the double-slide at the playground, he wants you to slide beside him.

He is extremely social, and it's fun to watch him observe other children when we're out or at the playground, especially kids that are playing together. You can tell he really wants to join in and often will start running around with the rest of them.

He has quite the memory, too. Yesterday at the bookstore he started asking for "Trains" as soon as we walked in the door. He wanted to play with the train table in the children's section... and I don't think we'd been to the store in months! He remembers where the train tracks are and the firetrucks are on our route to school. We'll pull into the Williams' neighborhood and he'll recognize where we are and start asking for cousin Carter. After school he will ask to "Play" at the park as we make the familiar drive home, and if you turn left instead of right (toward the park) he notices.

I can't get over how much he talks and observes and how many words he knows. Like "Binoculars." Did he just say binoculars? He is the cutest thing on the planet, and I am not biased at all!