Dax visited nursery!

Today I took Dax to visit nursery! I took him in about 30 minutes into the class, about the start of their snack time.

Even though I felt fairly sure that Dax would be fine in there without me, I have my own worries about me missing him! Or other kids rough-housing or picking on him.

So anyway, I took Dax into the classroom to join 10 other toddlers in there today. He was very interested in the other kids and what they were doing. He happily ate goldfish snacks with them at the table, and a little girl seated next to him ended up taking his plate and giving him his fish one-by-one, it was really adorable for both of them! I also noticed that the little girl knows sign language (I'm sure he noticed first)!!! YAY, another kid in there who will understand Dax! She signed "please" when she wanted more - I certainly noticed. Dax & her were super cute together - she'd give him a fish, and he'd sign "thank-you" and smile at her really big. I was actually a bit surprised that he let her take his plate of food! Food is a big deal to that boy, haha.

He gleefully laughed during bubble time. He danced to the music during dance time. He sat in his little chair and participated with a happy/sad paper face during lesson time. He did hand motions for songs they sang during singing time, and whenever they sang a word he recognized, he'd do the ASL sign for it. At the end they sang a song about families and when the word "Daddy" was used he frantically started signing "Daddy" and looking for him and then tried to leave the room to go find him. :) Unfortunately Dax can easily reach the doorknob and open the door, so I'll have to warn the leaders to watch for that in a few weeks when he's in there without me.

We did stay the remainder of the time but I really wasn't near Dax or giving him any attention. I did help with some other kids who needed guidance to follow the group and listen to the teacher, and I took a crying kid out to a parent (Dax saw me leave but couldn't really care less, nor was he even a teensy bit excited when I reappeared). I did stand right behind him closely during play-doh, but that's because I knew he'd try to eat it. I kept taking it from his lips and reminding him not to eat it. After doing that a dozen times in a row, he stopped attempting to eat it. Hopefully he'll get over his desire to consume play-doh soon. :)

So nursery was good, the 1.5 hours we were there flew by quick. The teachers agreed Dax should just come to all of it next week, and the week after that is his official week to "start" without me in there. I think I'll offer to help out for a few more weeks and maybe they'll ask me to stay. :) There are a lot of new kids that recently turned 18-months right in a row around Dax's age, and several of them need to be held and have one-on-one time to comfort them and distract them from the fact that their parent left them. And they are so sweet and cuddly and LIGHT - seriously, even those few older kids that are a couple inches taller than Dax weigh less than he does by a good 5+ pounds.

I can't believe my SON is old enough for nursery! :) And he loved it! He was excitedly "talking" about it with his hands after church, telling Daddy how he colored with "crayons" and sang "music" and played with "friends" hee hee. :)