Les Petits Chaperons Rouges

This is usually the look I find on Andrew's face whenever I pick him up from "school". He absolutely loves this daycare center and talks endlessly about his new friends there. He is particularly fond of the young ones, and to this day, his obsession with babies continues. The instructors all get a good kick out of his pronunciation of all the kids' names: Isaac (pronounced Eezak in France) is called "Attack" by Andrew. Liam is "Yam". Jethro (his best friend outside of creche) is called "Go-go" by Andrew. Pierre is "Bear". My first consultation with the instructors there included a rather indepth "analysis" of Andrew, his habits, temperament, routine, etc. Their philosophy is to make each child feel as much at home as possible. Therefore, if they normally eat lunch at 11:00am, lunch will be served to that child at 11:00am. Conversely, if they usually eat at 1:30, then their lunch will be served at 1:3o. If they usually eat on mom's lap, then they would be seated on one of the instructor's lap for meal time. Fortunately for me, I advised them that Andrew eats everything, any way, any time of the day, with lunch usually around the noon-ish hour. What they were astonished to observe was how much the child can consume! They just recently notified me that they cut him off at two big servings of each course, even though he often says "encore", they know he had enough! (lunch is of course a four course meal...appetizer, main entree, bread and cheese, then followed by dessert!), and then "goute" aka snack, just a few hours later which consists of a yogourt and apple pie or something to that effect! The lunches themselves are gourmet meals...for example, tomato and fresh mozzarella salad, followed by chicken curry with mixed vegetables and rice, then some Camembert cheese and fresh baguette, and usually some sort of fresh fruit and/or treat (i.e. chocolate eclair) for dessert. I also notified the instructors of his "limited" napping behaviours during the daytime in my initial consultation. (at home, he virtually never naps during the day anymore, except on the very rare occasion) Well, he must tucker himself out REAL good at creche, because I've been advised that he is ALWAYS the first child asleep (and usually the last one awake) with naps averaging 2.5 to 3 hours every single time! Andrew no longer cries when I drop him off there, he is often singing new (french) songs he learned there on the drive home, (and speaking more french words in general) and we just recently made the decision to bump up his schedule there from two days per week to three days per week until August at which point the daycare closes for the month and then in September, he will begin school, as do all children born in 2006. Day cares in France are extremely difficult to get into (we were extremely lucky), however they are also highly subsidized and the cost of three days per week is equivalent to HALF of what I was once paying for a babysitter for one day per week.