Bonds

At the first center I worked at they had younger toddlers (ages 12 months-18 months) and older toddlers (ages 18 months-2 years). When a child got ready to turn 18 months old they spent a week transitioning. They would go to the other room and spend  a few hours in the other classroom and then they would return. The hours they spent in the new classroom would increase each day until they spent most of Friday in the new classroom and were picked up in that classroom. The following week they would be in the new classroom.

The week of transitioning for the little boy I've been talking about in my previous posts came. Each day I'd walk him to the classroom and welcome him back as he returned. At the end of the week on Friday I walked him to his new classroom, then returned to mine. At nap time after the children were asleep and lunch had been cleaned up I went to take the rest of the diapers, sunscreen and other belongings of this little boy to his new room. As I closed the door and started to return to my room I started to cry. I had had this little boy since he was ten months old and the first few months in my room from 5:30 until 6 it was often just him and me because everyone else had been picked up and he wasn't picked up until 6. This one on one time with a child in this kind of setting is rare and we developed a strong bond due to the half hour we spent together every day. We played with toys, took walks, and he helped me close the room every day.

A few months after he had moved up I was on the playground that we shared with the older toddler room. This little boy was being held by a teacher and I asked another teacher in that room if he was ok. She told me they had just gotten back from being gone for two weeks.
"Ah, readjusting uh?" I said.
"Yup."
A few minutes later the teacher holding this little boy came over to me and said, "I think he wants you, he keeps pointing at you."
He practically jumped into my arms- I almost didn't catch him. He put his head on my shoulder and started to pat my back so I started to rub his and talk softly to him about he and his family being on vacation. After a few minutes I put him down in the sand box and sat beside him. He sat there playing quietly. When it got time for me to take my class inside I started to clean up and get my children to the gate so we could go in. When he saw me doing this he went over to the gate and stood by it. Instead of trying to get him to stay and go in with his own class I let him go in with ours. As I put a toy away I told the teacher I had him and I'd bring him down to their classroom in a minute. I took my class in, washed everyone's hands including his then we walked down the hall to his room. I opened the door and told him I'd see him later and he walked right in and was fine. Every day for about two weeks when I got outside he'd come sit beside me and play then go in with me and then I'd take him to his room. One day as I started to clean up and get everyone to the gate he didn't follow. As I got ready to go in I checked on him, saw he was playing quietly and went in. He was all right from then on. I guess some bonds just don't break.