An Atrium Success
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Monday, September 21, 2009 10:00 AM
Camilla had her first day of Atrium on Friday.
First of all, we brought home a cold. The kids woke up with runny noses this morning and I looked up the incubation period for the common cold: two to five days. If we didn’t catch it at Atrium, I’ll eat my hat.
But other than that, it went wonderfully.
I should have clarified in my last post that although ideally I would be able to leave Camilla at Atrium alone, I had no expectation that this would actually be possible the first day. What I was concerned about was whether the teachers would expect me to leave her there, or whether they would be okay with me staying so that Camilla would be comfortable enough to participate.
Fortunately, it was perfectly fine for me (and Blaise) to stay with Camilla. Several other mothers stayed with their children as well, and the teacher actually seemed happy that we were there to help out.
Camilla was shy at first, wanting to cling to me instead of sit in the circle with the other children. But by the end of the class when I took Blaise to the empty half of the room to nurse him, she was fine, and only stuck her head around the curtain once to make sure I was still there. I’m confident that she’ll continue to adjust with time.
And that’s good, because except for the shyness thing, Atrium was a big success. Camilla is a meticulous little girl, so the Montessori-style set-up of different “works” for the children to do is perfect for her. There wasn’t much catechesis in this first class, just a few songs and prayers, and the rest of the time the kids just got to play with the different stuff in the classroom. Camilla loved it.
She listened and followed directions quite well, especially for being one of the youngest kids in the room. I was proud of her.
(On a side-note: It was interesting for me to see my future in the boys in her class. I bet in a few years when Blaise is bouncing off the walls at his first Atrium session, I’ll be thinking ruefully of my sweet little girl sitting there so quietly!)
She chattered the whole way home about Atrium and how she can’t wait to go back. I’m very glad we decided to go ahead and do it this year. She’s ready. (Hooray!)
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