Last Days of Daycare

William's Learning Tree Journey

It seems hard to remember now that I'm a big schoolboy, but back 4 years ago I was still at daycare. And not only that - 4 years ago little William joined me there, when he was just a 1 year-old. Now it's the year 2021 and he's joined me again - this time at school. But we can't start our journey through school without a quick look back at where he's been at Learning Tree.

When he arrived he was a fresh-faced little baby, like in this photo, which was taken in his second week at daycare. It sure looks like he was enjoying himself, with those chubby cheeks and happy smile.

When he was younger, William loved to clean up. Not just his own mess either, he'd always be the first to help out with tidying and cleaning up a mess. When we were out somewhere and he saw a vaccum cleaner or a broom, he'd immediately point at it and grab it, if he could. That's how much he loved cleaning.

So it's no surprise the teachers at Learning Tree noticed this too, and took these photos of him in action. Looks he's doing a pretty thorough job too. Hopefully that towel isn't the one they dry their hands on after washing them.

Other things William enjoyed at daycare were getting creative and playing with his best friend Noah. You can see both these things in the photo below. Hope that's paint he's smearing around.

Over four years at daycare William's enjoyed quite a few Christmases too, and here he is sending a special message of holiday cheer to Santa, in expectation of a big pile of presents to open on the 25th.

One of William's favourite places at daycare is the sandpit. There are so many stories from his teachers of William making volcanoes, gardens and all sorts of things in there. Several times Dad's gone to pick him up at the end of the day, only to find him sitting in the sandpit with some of his friends pouring sand onto him. Dad says it makes his car look like a beach by the time they get home.

William's loved his four years at daycare, but as his 5th birthday got closer it was time to say goodbye to his friends and his teachers. On his last day he had a graduation like mine, where a teacher showed everyone through his portfolio, they sang happy birthday and ate the dinosaur cake Mum made. Not that I was invited - I was too busy at school.

Then, on William's actual birthday, he celebrated turning five by going on his first day of school. A whole new journey is just beginning - and luckily for him, I'll be there to help him along the way, just like last time.

His-story in the Making

My Four-Year Daycare Journey

Now that I've only got a few days left at daycare before I graduate and start school, I've been starting to think about my time here. So much has happened in this four-year journey.

In the beginning... At first I really didn't want Mummy to leave me there. I'd cry and cry until she eventually left to go to work, then I'd immediately cheer up, eat something and play with toys.

It was at daycare that I first practiced walking - taking tiny steps around furniture while holding on with both hands. I also found some favourite things to play with, like a colourful keyboard that I could bash away on like one of the people in Daddy's noisy music videos.

Settling in... It didn't take long before I was making friends and feeling more comfortable. When I was three, one of my favourite teachers brought in some turtles and Eddie the blue tongue lizard for us to watch and pat.

They also unwisely let us all loose with water balloons to fill up from a hose and smash on the ground to explode with water everywhere. Except that I was much more keen on looking after my water balloon rather than breaking it.

Master of the universe... By four I was just about king of the castle. I was having a great time making cars, buildings and all sorts of things in the construction area.

And I'd play with my friend Damiyn in the big outdoor area - scooping out roads and building volcanoes in the sandpit. Before taking all the sand home with me to scatter over the carpet.

But what's next? When I turn five there's suddenly no more daycare, and it really is time to graduate into one of the big boys. Luckily through all my adventures in growing up at daycare, I'm certainly graduating from cool to school.

New Adventures in Daycare

Dinosaurs, sand and sketching

Even though I still might not be one of the big people at home, at daycare I’m one of the biggest kids there. That’s because I’ve only got a month left until I graduate.

So much has happened since the last time I updated on my daycare adventures. What have I been up to since then? Lots of fun things.

I’ve been making lots of kites out of pieces of paper with string trailing off them, and running around holding them in the air for them to fly. As part of this I’ve also been able to practice my drawing and colouring-in. My favorite things to draw at the moment are people, the sun and paths through forests – the sort of thing you’d see on a cool map.

One of the best places in the Little Scholars room is the construction area. Sometimes I spend hours there working on my creations – cars, planes, boats, houses, even a car garage.

I can get pretty protective of my creations though, which means I get a bit upset if anyone else breaks something I’ve made. Tidying everything up at the end of the day is also something I’m not always keen about.

You’re never too old for playing with toys too. When I’m playing with toy animals or dinosaurs I like to pretend they're talking, like "Oh no, you got eaten by a dinosaur because the dinosaur was hungry".

Summertime has come to an end now and it’s getting all cold and dark. But back when the sun was shining and the days were hot, I loved playing outside. We got to do painting, building trucks out of blocks, and racing about on trikes. We’ve got a big water tank, and I used to like splashing in there and showing the teachers how I'm learning to swim.

Even bigger than the water tank is the sandpit, which is great for building roads and volcanoes in. It’s not so great for staying clean though, so most days I’d go home bringing piles of sand in my shoes. Taking my shoes off in my bedroom often created a mini sandpit on the carpet when all the sand fell out!

So that’s what I’ve been doing the last few months at daycare. Sounds so much more fun than what Mummy and Daddy get up to in their days. But what will school be like? How different will it be? In a month’s time I’ll be finding out!

Water Fun Time - It's Souper

The science of High Fliers

Originally published 18 September 2016

These days I only go to daycare 3 times a week, but we get to do lots of cool things when I'm there. And it's not just about running around collecting bruises or getting as much sand from the sandpit into my clothes as possible. We've also been learning things about science and nature.

Like when we had visits from turtles and Eddie the blue tongue lizard. The turtles were in a big pool of water and I wasn't too sure about putting my hand in there, but eventually I tried giving them a pat. They certainly didn't feel anything like patting a cat, but then they also didn't try and run away from me like the cats normally do. It is nice to have some animal friends visit though, especially after all the goldfish have gone.

Another time we celebrated Maori New Year with a special Matariki week, where we all made soup and Maori bread. For the soup, each of us had to bring a vegetable along to use in it, so I took a carrot. All the veges were cut up for the soup one day, then we got to eat it the next day. Hopefully no-one brought any yucky pumpkin, but luckily the soup was yummy anyway.

The teachers at daycare obviously don't mind living dangerously, because another time we were let loose for a day of water fun. Out came the hoses and water balloons, and pretty soon everything was starting to get pretty wet. I didn't quite have the same reaction to the water balloons as the other kids though. While they were throwing theirs onto the ground to explode and splash water out, I wanted to carefully hold onto mine so that they didn't break.

I think having my baby brother William at home is rubbing off on me at daycare too. We have a few dolls to play with there, and rather than just playing with them I've now started doing things like using paper towels to clean their bottom. It feels like looking after them a bit like Mummy does with cleaning William's bottom. Not that I ever actually help Mum with doing that; handing her nappies to use is one thing, but actually getting mess all over my hands is another thing entirely. I'm stll more a mess-maker than a cleaner.

First Steps to Musical Effects

Adventures in daycare

Originally published 8 October 2014

Sometimes it's nice to make a mess somewhere different. Like when you've already covered the lounge at home in toys, and the bedroom floor with books, you need a new blank canvas to make your mark on. Sometimes quite literally. That's where daycare comes in.

I've been going there every weekday since Mummy went back to work. Well, Daddy's salary alone wasn't going to keep me in the manner to which I intend to become accustomed, so that's fine with me.

Initially I wasn't too sure about it, especially since it transpired that there were already lots of other little Ollie lookalikes there, and I'd therefore have to share things with them. But after the first few visits I found I actually enjoyed myself there.

There are lots of different toys to play with, including some fun musical instruments. Sometimes the daycare people bring along their own instruments from home so we can all play along together. It's a bit of a ruckus really, but no worse than some of the stuff Dad plays at home. My favourite is this colourful keyboard.

We also get to learn about lots of new things like animals. A couple of weeks ago we had a treat when our daycare was visited by some animals, including rabbits, goats and a horse. Being such a big animal-lover I loved being able to get up close to and pat some of them, especially since when I'm at daycare I miss the 3 cats we have at home (though I'm pretty sure this is a one-sided feeling).

I'm also learning lots at daycare. Many of my first steps were practiced here, holding onto the edge of chairs, and we've even started eating our lunchtime meal at little tables.

One great little scam I've got going is the double-breakfast. Mum and Dad give me brekkie at home before they drop me off at daycare, then when the daycare people bring out breakfast for some of the babies who arrive early I put on my best 'I haven't eaten for ages and would love some brekkie' expression. Hey presto - double-breakfast!

As well as learning all these new things, it turns out that daycare is also just the place for picking up other things - mainly colds. I've had about six of them since I started in July, all of which I've kindly shared with Mummy and Daddy.

Overall I'm loving it though. This is the sort of treatment I could get used to; no need to worry about school or work for a long time yet!