Sawyer’s classroom at daycare is referred to as the Wobbler Room. The kids in this room are at the developmental stage where crawling is their preferred method of self-transport; they are eating solids—actual food we can recognize; and climbing is becoming a past-time, along with standing, exploration of their surroundings, and escape from the classroom is attempted daily. Walking will soon be checked off their physical development list, and once that is their consistent mode of transport, the kid is bumped up to the Toddler Room. The Toddler Room is where they stay until they reach 2 years old, when they then start pre-school.
Two of our son’s classmates were bumped up within the last few weeks, and neither is happy. Every time I see them in their new room they are crying and begging to return to the Wobbler Room. One kid was sending SOS smoke signals somehow with the bottle warmer and a bib—smart girl! I get it though. In the Toddler Room you are down to one scheduled nap per day; you are discouraged from drinking a bottle; the kids are all nice, but they do move faster; and there’s a rumor going around the Wobbler’s Room that they have no method for heating up food in that classroom. Sawyer is pissed—he loves eating leftovers for lunch, especially vegetarian Tikka Masala.
The Wobblers hear their friends’ pleas, and a few of them know that they are next on the list to move up (literally, and figuratively)...Sawyer being one of them. Before the other two moved up, Sawyer would be caught dancing on the table in front of his peers in the Wobbler Room (I told him to save all the dollar bills for college). Since those two classmates moved up and you can hear their miserable cries, Sawyer is no longer dancing on the table, and he and his remaining classmates are doing their best to stay as Wobblers. At home, Sawyer walks (he still crawls when he wants to pick up speed), he hikes in the mountains with us, climbs mini boulders, dances and gardens. At night he foam rolls in order to maintain flexibility. One of his other Wobblers has some major dancing skills as well; a few have started walking; and one kid solves the Rubik’s Cube before lunch every day. They are moving and grooving!
Now, in order to not become a Toddler, the Wobblers are on strike and faking physical regression whenever the Daycare Director is present. A few were walking in the classroom chasing a ball, and as soon as the Director walked into the room they all flopped to the floor on their backs with all four limbs wiggling in the air, as if they are beetles stuck on their backs. Sawyer only dances on the table at home now not bringing home ANY money for college, and sadly, the Rubik’s cube is left unsolved, just hanging out in the corner of the Wobbler Room.
Every morning starts with the Wobblers making sure each of them has returned, and each day ends with them promising each other that they’ll return as a Wobbler, not as a Toddler. It’s amazing the camaraderie these Wobblers have, but they have also been together since 6 months of age and have months of friendship developed over numerous bottles under their beltless diapers. I know to not put anything past them!
Credit to Andrea Ruygt for the kickass vignettes!