Scott the Bruiser

So I went to pick up Scott from daycare today, and was greeted with this note on the infant classroom bulletin board:

Moving to Room 2 (Toddler):
Scott Rough - 8/15 (parent notification letter not yet sent)

Umm...whaat?

How could my Tank possibly be headed to the big kid toddler room in a mere two weeks? It was my understanding the babies didn't "graduate" until they were at least 12-13 months old AND walking.

Scott is neither, though he tries - a lot - on the walking part. And he will be only 11-months-old when he moves up.

I said as much to Scott's teacher when I saw the note. She tactfully and kindly explained to me that Scott was now one of the older babies in his classroom. There are, she admitted, a couple who are older, but his teachers thought "he was more ready than they are" to head next door.

Hmmm. I called Jim, and not surprisingly, he was thrilled with this news. I believe his exact response went something like "hahahahahahaha. That's MY boy!"

Okay then.

I took this unexpected development a little harder.

I think it's because (and I am blatantly stealing from my friend Meghan's blog here, because frankly she expressed it perfectly in a recent post) I still mentally picture Scott like this:

In mommy's mind, I am still a two month old with a binky. Seriously mom?!?!?

But in reality, he looks like this:

Yes. This is me. The big kid. Get used to it.

And even though Scott has lately been exhibiting all the signs of early onset toddler behavior, I still wondered if he would be able to keep up with a group of kids mostly between 14 and 18 months of age.

I expressed this concern out loud to Miss Hannah.

Her response?

"Don't worry. He's a tough kid. He can definitely hold his own."

Hmmm... Is it me, or does that sound like my Tank might be a non-stop force of destruction who is climbing over or knocking aside anything and anyone in his path?

For the record, Miss Hannah also didn't contradict me when I (somewhat jokingly) said, "So basically you're saying my kid is the diesel engine in the infant room?"

She just laughed and handed me Scott and then my diaper bag.

And so to the toddler room we go.

Some advice: 'Crawl quickly, pull things off shelves and bang a big wooden spoon as loud as you can, and you too can leave those little babies behind."