School for a week

It's been a week since Ariel started going to daycare. It has been a rather stressful week for us, as we adjust to the new schedule. But honestly, I would think it's more stressful for us than it is for her!

Surprisingly, she's coping rather well, especially in consideration that she had never been taken care by a babysitter before. At the end of the 1 week, even though she still cries when I leave her in the morning, she is actually fine for the rest of the morning. She doesn't cry during transitions of activities anymore, and according to the teacher, she had grown to be more interactive and even wanted to try a slide yesterday.

I'm so proud of my little girl :)

However, one area which I regretted and felt that I have not kept up to, is to get her self-feeding skills up to speed. Ariel could actually use a spoon when she turned 15 months. I would scoop some food and place it in a spoon for her, and she would be able to successfully bring it to her mouth, regardless of whether her eyes are on the spoon or not.

I was delighted at this milestone, but regretfully, I did not help her develop her skills further. And as time goes by, when the novelty of the spoon wears off, she is also not so keen to self-feed anymore.

When I went to school and observed how the other kids eat lunch, I was dismayed to see how one of Ariel's classmate, Carson (who is just 2 months older than her) able to self-feed and use the spoon very effectively. Although the teachers were kind enough to say that it's alright, they can feed her, in real circumstances, it will still help if she can self-feed.

So, right now, I'm really going to be more persistent in getting her to feed herself, while at the same time, trying to look for more finger food lunch ideas for her to bring to school.

Going to daycare is not only good for Ariel, I'd think it's good for me too, to see how independent many of the kids there are. I'm now more than convinced that daycare is good for children, and it's really not a bad idea to send them there early.

P/S - BTW, here's a very good article I found from iVillage on encouraging toddlers to use the spoon: http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bnutrition/0,,3vrj,00.html