Yesterday was Blake's last official day at his nursery and I went to town to do some last minute extra shopping for Christmas, but that's a story for another day (tomorrow if I'm not too lazy).
Since February Blake has been going to Ely's Nursery in Finchley twice a week for the afternoon. Between the two of us, someone is always with Blake, so we didn't really need it, but we wanted Blake to spend some time away from us with other people, particularly other children his age. The added bonus was two afternoons that could be used to catch up on Television shows, naps or nude bangee jumping from the top of Big Ben. The nursery was also useful when I was teaching up until a few months ago.
Leaving Blake at the nursery wan't always fun. Often he'd start clinging to me and cry, but most of the times he'd just be going through the motions and immediately calm down when one of the girls picked him up for a cuddle. Picking him up at the end of the day was the real treat. Seeing his face light up when he sees me and have him run into my arms, it's a unique pleasure I can't quite put to words.
Leaving Blake at the nursery wan't always fun. Often he'd start clinging to me and cry, but most of the times he'd just be going through the motions and immediately calm down when one of the girls picked him up for a cuddle. Picking him up at the end of the day was the real treat. Seeing his face light up when he sees me and have him run into my arms, it's a unique pleasure I can't quite put to words.
It was nice to see Blake doing something we haven't taught him, like certain hand gestures to go along with certain songs. Little things like that. At the end of each day we'd get a detailed report on Blake's activities and it was fairly obvious that despite his occasional protest at being left there, he actually liked it quite a lot there.
We're planning to travel a bit in the new year and then move, so there was no point keeping him there on a regular basis. I was delighted to find out that he can still attend on a day to day basis. So yay.
When we brought Blake to Ely's in February he wasn't talking and barely responded to his own name. The only way I could grab his attention was singing to him. Now we know he was just ignoring whatever he found boring, but back then we were worried. The staff at the nursery picked on that too and suggested he should be seen by experts. He was and we were assured that there was nothing wrong with him. And indeed by now he dispelled any fears we had back then. I decided to show off just how far Blake has come.
In the principal's office with a few members of staff present I demonstrated Blake's reading skills. I held Blake with one hand, as well as a paperpad. With the other hand I wrote with a pen on the pad. I used a regular pen, not a marker and I wrote in my regular hand writing which I must say is very readable. Blake immediately smiled when he realized I was writing words he knew. Kiss, he blew a kiss. Hair, he brushed his hair with his hand. Nose, he touched his nose. Duck, quack quack. Blake knows about 150 words now.
The staff was genuinely impressed. I also left a link to my blog because a couple of the girls asked to stay in touch.
I left Blake so I could go shopping and when I returned with big bags of excessive shopping I ran into two of the girls who were on the way out. They told me they were waiting for me to say goodbye so I was glad I ran into them. They told me how impressed they were with Blake's reading. They told me they already read my blog and loved it. They couldn't stop reading even with the kids running around and said I was a great writer and so on. I'm not used to getting such compliments in person, so it's a good thing it was dark in case I was blushing. I guess they might be reading this post too, so hi girls! I hope to see you again in the new year.
When I walked in I was given a package with Blake's spare clothes and these two lovely books:
When we brought Blake to Ely's in February he wasn't talking and barely responded to his own name. The only way I could grab his attention was singing to him. Now we know he was just ignoring whatever he found boring, but back then we were worried. The staff at the nursery picked on that too and suggested he should be seen by experts. He was and we were assured that there was nothing wrong with him. And indeed by now he dispelled any fears we had back then. I decided to show off just how far Blake has come.
In the principal's office with a few members of staff present I demonstrated Blake's reading skills. I held Blake with one hand, as well as a paperpad. With the other hand I wrote with a pen on the pad. I used a regular pen, not a marker and I wrote in my regular hand writing which I must say is very readable. Blake immediately smiled when he realized I was writing words he knew. Kiss, he blew a kiss. Hair, he brushed his hair with his hand. Nose, he touched his nose. Duck, quack quack. Blake knows about 150 words now.
The staff was genuinely impressed. I also left a link to my blog because a couple of the girls asked to stay in touch.
I left Blake so I could go shopping and when I returned with big bags of excessive shopping I ran into two of the girls who were on the way out. They told me they were waiting for me to say goodbye so I was glad I ran into them. They told me how impressed they were with Blake's reading. They told me they already read my blog and loved it. They couldn't stop reading even with the kids running around and said I was a great writer and so on. I'm not used to getting such compliments in person, so it's a good thing it was dark in case I was blushing. I guess they might be reading this post too, so hi girls! I hope to see you again in the new year.
When I walked in I was given a package with Blake's spare clothes and these two lovely books:
One had goodbye drawings from the kids from his room and the other photos and artwork by Blake.
I unfolded Blake's stroller from the cupboard and packed him in as usual with his coat, gloves and hat. And then we just walked out. An end of an era - I seem to have a lot of those when it comes to Blake.
The principal was also very kind to upload to my memory stick all the photos they took of Blake over the year. Here's a selection from the pictures. I removed a few, but couldn't really narrow it down from there. Not that it matters. My blog is a bit like Penthouse: it has lots of text in it, but everyone is really only interested in the pictures.
So here we go:
Awww, he wants to be a doctor. My inner Jewish mother just high-fived herself.
--Mickey
2 comments:
So you pulled him out of pre-school because he starts pre-med in the Spring semester?
That little Blake got it all! He's the whole package!
Your Friend, m.
You require time to create that attractive and in addition real effort to make such a high-quality blog post 14 Legs .
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