Drop-off Playgroup

At our one-year well visit, our pediatrician recommended that we have Buba screened by Early Intervention (EI). He made this recommendation because Buba was not yet speaking individual words, and he used mama and dada indiscriminately. So, I called and set up evaluations for both kids (might as well). Interestingly, Tiny qualified for nutrition support due to her slow weight gain, and Buba qualified for nothing. It was noted that he had some delays, but none were great enough for him to qualify for services.

Three months later, we had Buba retested, and at this point, he qualified for home visits with an educator (to provide speech and language support) and an occupational therapist. He has been receiving EI services since last July, and we have seen tremendous growth from him.

A few months back, it was recommended that we consider putting the kids into an EI playgroup. Tiny is no longer receiving EI services, but she could participate as a community kid. Given that his EI educator (who they both adore) was about to go on maternity leave, I chose to sign them up for a playgroup rather than transition him to another educator. Buba tends to hang back in play situations with other kids, so it seemed like this might be a good way to help him learn how to participate in play with other kids.

It took several months to get everything set up, but we finally went to our first day of playgroup this morning. (Thanks to all the comments left at HDYDI, we were even on time.) I was really nervous about how it would go. It’s intended to be a drop-off playgroup. And while I love the idea of having an hour and a half to myself, I was quite concerned as to how the kids would respond.

Fortunately, the EI staff eases everyone into the drop-off part. Today, I stayed in the room the entire time. They have a “mommy seat” off in the corner, and there I sat filling out paperwork while the kids played. Buba went right for the table with airplanes and trucks, and Tiny headed over to the water play area where she got to wash baby dolls in soapy sudsy water. Tiny never once came over to check in with me, but Buba came frequently. Often he just sat down with me for a few minutes before heading off to something else, but a couple of times he was looking for some cuddles. The EI staff was great about talking with him and luring him back into play.

The hard part came when it was time to clean up the toys and head over to a meeting space for circle time. Buba did not want to go, and cried a bit even when I went with him. Luckily that part was only about ten minutes. Then each kid went to the sink to wash hands before snack. Tiny loved that part, but Buba cried through that part too. He also cried as I took him to sit at the little table and chairs for snack, but calmed down pretty quickly once the snack arrived (Cheerios and raisins).

All in all, it went pretty well. One of the lead teachers said that both kids had done well considering it was their first time. Next week, I’ll drop them off and head to a waiting room in the building. Should there be a problem, someone will come and get me to join them at the playgroup again. But hopefully, over the next few weeks, Tiny and Buba will become comfortable enough that my presence will no longer be necessary. At that point, I could actually leave the building should I desire to do so.

Both kids agreed that they had a fun time playing with new friends. I asked each one what they liked best about playgroup and wasn’t too surprised by their answers. Tiny said, “I wash hands in the water.” And Buba said, “Snack.”

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Don’t forget- tomorrow is the last day to enter my Humpty Who giveaway.