Getting our feet wet

Today is a milestone for Momma and Claire, and I just have to share!

Claire’s birthday is November 30th.  She will be three this year.  The cut-off date for school out here is October 1st.  She’ll miss it and will not be able to go to Kindergarten until she is almost 6-yrs old.  My husband and I have decided to wait on sending her to preschool…we’ll send her in a couple years to a Pre-K offered by a preschool in our neighborhood that has come highly recommended to us.

In the meantime, I’m already following her lead on things, and she is like a little sponge!  Her thirst for understanding the world around her is insatiable at times.  She knows her colors, numbers, letters, address, etc.  I’m not forcing this stuff on her…I answer her questions and ask her questions throughout the day, and it works for us.

As it turns out, one of the moms in the Moms’ Club sends her little girl to the preschool we’re going to send Claire to in a couple of years.  This year, they are offering a special class for “young preschoolers” who are or will be 2.5 by October 1st.  It meets one day a week for an hour and a half.  It’s just structured enough to count as “school” and yet meets for such a short time that it’s not really a full-on “preschool.”

I called them, and they have space!  (They keep the class size really small.)  Claire and I decided to give it a go.

Last night, we were talking about the “school” and Claire got very upset.  She started crying when she realized that I wouldn’t be in the class with her.  My heart broke into a million pieces, and a pit formed in my stomach.  Was this too soon?  This was my own fault, after all.  I wasn’t going to send her to any form of preschool yet, but I’d changed my mind. I’d justified it all in my head.  An hour-and-a-half a week wasn’t really school.  It’s just enough to get her used to being independent from me.  If she cries, that’s okay…right?  That’s why we’re doing this, right?

We got her calmed down last night, and I really wondered how today would go.

As soon as she woke up, she was begging to go to school.  Today’s class didn’t start until Noon, so she had a few hours to wait.  All morning, she begged to go to school.  Maybe this will go okay?  (Plus, we’ve left her with a sitter before, and she’s been fine…but this would be a little different.)  Already being excited to go has to be a good sign…right?

We went to the school and met the Director and then met Claire’s teacher, “Sandy.” (may or may not be her real name…)  Claire was a little clingy at first, which was to be expected.  She can be a little clingy even with people she knows, depending on her mood…so this wasn’t surprising.

Sandy said I could stay for a while if I wanted to get Claire more used to her surroundings, and I said, “Oh…no…that’s okay.  I have a lot of paperwork to fill out in the main office.  So, I think I’ll go do that while Claire gets to know you and her new friends.  Right, Claire?”

I was hoping that she would be able to get into her element faster if I wasn’t there.  I was hoping that she wouldn’t cry or be too upset.

“Okay, Momma!  See ya later!” she said as she took off across the room to check out the toys.

I took that as my cue and slipped out the door.

I *did* have a ton of paperwork to fill out, so I did that.  The Director and her assistant chatted with me as I filled out the paperwork, and I got a really good feeling from all of this, the program, them.  Claire hadn’t burst into tears (yet, that I knew of), and even if she did…that’s why we’re doing this now.  I want her to be able to learn to spread her wings and be independent from me…on a certain level.  But, not too much, because she’s still little.  But, enough that she’ll be an old pro at doing this when we do other classes in the future.  Her future dance-classmates will thank me for this.

Plus, Claire has been talking about school so much lately, that this would be the perfect “teachable moment” to introduce something of this caliber.

The Director peeked into the room to see how she was doing and reported back.  Claire was singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider and having a grand ol’ time.  I peeked out the window when she was playing outside, and she was running around like a crazy person and having a blast.

At 1:30, I went to pick her up, and Sandy said she did a wonderful job.  There were no problems.  No tears.  No gnashing of teeth.

And, Claire didn’t want to leave.
And, she can’t wait until next Monday.
And, she talked non-stop all the way home about everything she did and everyone she met.

Daddy will be happy to hear that there were no tears, and that Claire didn’t cry either! 

I know that we may have some obstacles in the future, but so far, so good.  And, if we do, I’ll just remind myself that this is why we’re doing this now.  It’s not time for her to swim across the deep end by herself, but there’s nothing wrong with getting her feet wet.