On a Happy Hill-top

I love this kid! He is so bright and shiny! He is learning tons and changing like crazy. We started his pre-toddler classes today. He wasn't sure how he felt about the 3 other pre-tods and parents. He has started to get a little shy in large groups but he loves children and was so excited to see them. The pre-toddler class is put on by the early education program to help children catch up in a group environment while learning from other children and new activities. I'ts every Friday for a little over an hour. Today was our first class. We started with hands on learning time. This is where they can play with pretty much any of the toys. It helps with sensory and social skills. We first played with the static electricity toy that you touch (hit) and it lights up and spins. (I have to admit it was pretty cool) Luke was a big fan of this but it was away from all the other kids and I wanted him to have an opportunity to be more social so we moved on to the standing sand box. This could be summed up simply. Luke does not like sand! So our teacher Mrs. Jensen was nice enough to bring us something new to play in, fake snow. Luke liked this a lot. The only problem was he wanted to eat it. And since it was made from soap, that didn't seem like a great idea. So once again we moved on. To the boats. We went and stood in front of the standing tub and this was a huge success. He loves water and liked the Elmo on the boats and was able to splash as much as he wanted! After this we moved on to singing time.
This was a little difficult for me. Luke is 14 months and the youngest in the class. The next closest in age was 15 months and this little boy was already walking and signing. He was the only child in the class who was not working on his motor skills. And the other two were between 20 an 22 month. Both weren't walking but one can talk and the other is probably closer to Luke's skill level only a bit more advanced. However in this activity we were working on mimicking and Luke just in not quite as developed in his mimicking and communication skill. You always hear people talk about things they have learned "from" their children but I think I have learned a lot of things simple because of him. Its humbling not to be the best, it is humbling to need help. And sitting there I was just very humbled. But I had to take a step back. And I thought for a minute no one else there was judging us. I was the one doing the comparing. I had to let it go, this has always been a difficult thing for me. It's amazing how we can let little internal thoughts cloud what externally could be a wonderful and beautiful experience. I didn't want to let that happen today. I had to let it go. Focus on the purpose. So after my retrospection during chorus of Twinkle Twinkle I felt new excitement for the entire experience. And we turned our attention to snack time. One of the really cool things about this class is they focus on choices. So they always give a child two things to choose from i.e. truck or a car, star or a monkey. And my favorite cottage cheese on a ritz or a craft single on a saltine, mmmm! Luke was a little timid at this table and was the only one not yet able to drink out of a cup, but hey he can sure eat:-) Then the last part of our class we went to the motor skills room. Its like an obstacle course for babies. Very fun, it even had a ball pit. Luke was not a fan! But he climbed up the ramp and had a great first day. I was so proud of him!
But I had a fun time and I think he did too


I have attached a bunch of photos of the past few weeks. Some are from home and some are from Luke's cousin Bronco's first Birthday Party.