First full day at school

Today Carter had his 4th day of school and very 1st full day without Mom. I spent the first two days with him for 3 or so hours and then we came home. Monday I left for a few hours but still picked him up after lunch and brought him home to nap. Today, however, I left Carter through lunch AND nap. I was nervous about doing it and knew Carter would either do beautifully as he tends to transition well and go with the flow, or he would refuse to nap and I'd have to pick him up in the middle of a meltdown. Of course, I suspected he'd do well and my suspicions were confirmed! I got a call around 12:30 from Carter's teacher saying he was asleep on a cot and there were no tears! One of the teachers simply laid him down with the other kids and told him it was time to go night night. He sat up a few times and looked around but once he was reminded that it was night night time, he laid back down and went to sleep in a few minutes. He slept for a whole 90 minutes!! When he woke up he didn't cry. He just got up and wandered over to his primary caregiver / teacher Jenni and crawled into her lap for some snuggles.

When I arrived to pick Carter up at 3:45 he was finishing his snack and gulping down milk. Milk! Without any chocolate added to it. I observed him having seconds, thirds, fourths and even fifths of milk in his little glass. Amazing!! And when he is done with his meals, in true CDC fashion, Carter has already learned to clear his own spot by dumping the leftover foods in the scrap bin, placing the bowl or plate in one container and his cup and silverware in another! Then he goes to the sink to wash up! I've noticed Carter now even helps me pick up toys at home if I ask him to - also learned from school, I'm sure.

Since Carter enjoyed his milk so much, his shirt was also soaked and so I had to take it off and change him into a new one. I had his shirt off and he was wandering around the classroom when he noticed his classmate Jack also had his shirt off for the same reason. They approached each other, bare bellied, and Carter said to Jack "Heeeey!" (this sounded like Joey from Friends might say "heeeey"). They proceeded to point to their respective belly buttons and examine their bulging tummies.

Yesterday Carter did something out of character for him that really made me laugh. We were at the library and a Mom and her three children were playing in the play area where we were. The Mom told her kids "let's go" when they were ready to leave and they followed her out of the children's section to the checkout area. I watched as Carter gathered the two stuffed animals he was playing with (one in each arm) and began filing out of the room with the other kids. This is very out of character for Carter since he never wanders off without Mom and I realized that now that he is in school a few days a week, he is starting to associate himself as part of a "group" and going along with that group as instructed. It was really precious.