Nina started daycare (nursery, it's called here) in November. If you've been reading this, you'll know that she was quickly followed home by every virus in the kingdom of England, most of which I caught, while A- was away for 2 weeks, and it was dreadful. Now it's over and I've been here and un-infected for two whole weeks - unprecedented, I tell you.
Anyway, she is out there every day, forging her own relationships and learning things. For example, she came home the other day and said something like "Olivia is my friend and Izzy is my friend and Phoenix is my friend and (several more) but Lou is not my friend". She wasn't able to say why not, so I asked about it. It turns out that Lou is a staff member who usually works with the babies but was with the 2-yr-olds for the day. I was glad to hear that Nina's not distinguishing levels of friendship with the other toddlers yet; while I love that she is developing quickly, and it's so fun to watch, there are many aspects of social behaviour that as far as I'm concerned can wait, forever.
Today it was stormy, I was tired, it was gently hailing, and I had finished my undergraduate teaching until mid-January (YAY!), with a 2-hr lecture given to about 1/3 the class, the others having left for break early, I guess. So I'd come home and gotten the car to go pick her up. As we left, she pointed to the window and said "look Mummy, a CHRISTMAS!" (meaning a Christmas tree). "We have one at OUR house!", she said. "And, Father Christmas is coming!". I guess they tell them all about Father Christmas. Kinda cute, I suppose ... I have my reservations about whether we'll tell her that Santa brings presents or not. I guess I'm inclined not to, but this will obviously go against what everyone else does. Why don't I want to? I'm not sure. Anyway the conversation continued: "We will get presents.... But, I already GOT a present". I said yes, you've already got some under the tree from Grandma, and Opa. "And, I got a present of markers" (recently bought at Shoppers in Vancouver, and highly popular). She sings Jingle Bells, sort of - it's really cute. She doesn't seem to know other Christmas songs.
Along with learning about Christmas, and learning how to count, and paint, and about what stockings are, she is also getting Christmas cards. There have been two so far, from other kids. What's the etiquette here? I've never met the other parents; the daycare has social evenings but hasn't had one since November. And the parents' names aren't on them. It just says 'from Olivia' or whoever. Do these parents give cards to all the kids? Or is this because their child particularly mentions Nina? Is it weird to ask (surely the staff know, because they distribute them)? Is it the norm to give cards to all the other kids, or just those your kid talks about? Is this some kind of crazy excess card-giving weirdness? It's kind of sweet until you start wondering whether you're expected to reciprocate ...
In other news we went to a big supermarket last weekend. Nina was really good the whole time and very patient. It was still a pain - I've always kind of hated doing that. And I should appreciate it while I'm here; I love not having to drive to a big supermarket every time I want cilantro, or fruit, or basically anything not available at 7-11. Our local Tesco express isn't super-cheap, but it's not terribly expensive, and it actually manages to have most of what we need most of the time, and we can get in and out of there in 10 minutes. Nina doesn't lose patience, and helps find things and put them in the basket, and it's a 2 minute walk from our place. For things not available at Tesco there is a range of local delis and little corner shops and a small Somerfield. Anyway, we still go up to the supermarket, a full 3-minute drive away, every age or two. And by then we need everything. Anyway the reason I wanted to remember this is that finally, when the cart was overflowing with our everything, I said that Nina had been a really good girl and now we should go play on the Thomas the Tank Engine ride while A- finished up the shopping and paid for it. And: oh my GOD, the excitement! The glee! The sheer, unrestrained joy of it! The anticipation! The adorable anticipatory giggling, jumping up and down and arm waving! Three days later, the satisfied smile and delighted mentions of this glorious event. Ah, toddlers. It's a little ride you put 1£ into, for 3 rides, and it gently bobs up and down making train sounds and allowing you to push buttons, turn wheels and thereby get extra choo choo sounds. And it's incredibly fun.
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