Getting Ready For School

The week after this coming 4th of July holiday, Kian will officially be starting "preschool"!

I call it "preschool" in quotation marks because he'll actually be in the 2 year old room, which is technically not preschool yet. The main differences as far as I can tell are really just that the 2 year olds aren't expected to all be on task together at the same time, although they do have group activities that they encourage them to participate in, and they aren't expected to be potty trained, although this school helps them to do that too when they are ready.

A couple of our main reasons for deciding to take this leap were (1) he has been showing signs that he is ready to be around other kids more and we weren't able to provide that for him with the nanny at home, and (2) we have heard from many sources that it will be good for him to have his own "world" that doesn't change when his baby brother arrives, and its better to make that transition well in advance so that he's not asked to make too many adjustments at once. Still, it's going to be a huge change for him, as well as -- ahem -- his parents, and a big milestone!

We have done our homework on this school, and we feel pretty good about it. It has an excellent reputation, and a very positive approach to working with the kids. It has wonderful communication with the parents, and a lot of fun stuff to do and other kids to play with. Plus, it's just a block down the street from my work, so I can come visit him whenever I want and even have lunch with him. They even serve organic milk! It's like there's a check in every box on my list. But MAN has it been tough making the decision! Mostly just because it feels like it means Kian's growing up in a way. I have to admit I got pretty emotional about it, agonizing about whether it's the right choice for him. I'm doing much better now, but when I went over to sign the paperwork and drop off the deposit, you would have thought I was sending him off to boarding school! Needless to say, I have made a point of keeping positive around him, regardless of my sentimentality. Luckily, Kian is much better at change than I am.

We started off transition phase one last week by let Kian's nanny of almost 2 years go, and he didn't so much as blink. Of course he's been having a lot of fun with his grandmothers (Floria last week and my mom this week) so that's pretty tough to beat any day. Hopefully, the rest of his transition into school will go as smoothly, but I'm not counting my chickens yet. In order to make it as easy on him (and me!) as possible, I have also been taking him over for an hour or two several times a week. They are really great about it, and have welcomed our visits with open arms even though we aren't on the roster until July.

Yesterday, his Grandmommie Jerilynn took him over in the afternoon, and I walked over with them to introduce her to the staff before heading back to work. When we got there the kids were all playing outside, and Kian basically took off and didn’t look back. Even when I told him mommy was going back to work and gave him a kiss, he was like – ok, bye! It was so great to see how so secure and confident he felt, but … I admit, I was sort of expecting he would care a little bit that I left. Not that I am complaining, mind you! I just got a glimpse of how I will feel when he goes away to college: proud but a little misty-eyed! His Grandmommie took him over again today for a couple of hours in the morning, and she sent me some wonderful pictures from her IPhone. It was the next best thing to being there!

Here are some glimpses into Kian's new world:

Inside the 2 year old room, standing by the dinosaurs with Clementine:

Lining up outside with Jules and Maeve, some other "Tigers" from his group (aren't they cute??):

Pushing a ball down the slide:

Crawling under the slide:

Using chalk in the wrong place:

Using chalk in the right place (nice re-direction from the teacher!):

Back inside for some playdough fun:

And some quality time with his very own Tiger group teacher, Ramona:

Last but not least, here's the big boy enjoying an after-school smoothie with his Grandmommie:

All these visits have been good for me, too, because the more I see him in this new environment, the better I feel about it. He seems like he's really enjoying all the new experiences, and it's even helping him learn about cleaning up and taking turns! I just hope he will still be ok when he has to stay for a full day. I have to worry about something, after all!

More to adventures to come....