Why, hello there. Welcome back! Or maybe I should be welcoming myself back. Either way, it's been much too long since I have had time to actually sit down and write a blog post! There are actually a couple of them coming your way over the next week or so, including a review of a most wonderful item that I purchased from across the border a couple of weeks ago. I have had a difficult time trying to figure out what topic to write about lately. Usually while I am driving, I end up with these fantastic blog ideas with nowhere to write them down, and they disappear by the time I get home. So, you are all stuck with my mediocre ideas. Yay for you.
I thought I might start with the most distressing thing in my life right now: Preschool.
The thought of leaving my beautiful little Sprout at school, even for just 5 hours per week, is enough to make me want to vomit. The financial obligation is also making me nauseous. Here's the deal: We want to send Sprout to this amazing, private Christian school in town, because the public school options in the city where we live are not great. There is a Catholic school, but both my husband and I are opposed to sending our CRC daughter to a Catholic school (if you know the fundamental differences between them, you will understand what I mean). The fact of the matter is that private schools are not cheap. Think the amount of a very large vehicle payment to send 2 kids there full-time, plus uniforms, plus extracurriculars. Plus, plus, plus. It all adds up to a crazy sum. I have contemplated homeschooling, because I am confident that if I homeschooled my kids, they would not end up being the 'homeschooled' kids who don't have a clue how to act in society, or who have been so sheltered from modern-day life that they experience a major shock once they are out in the world on their own (sorry, long sentence). The major deterrent for me homeschooling the kids is that I believe I learned valuable lessons in school. I learned how to function in society, I learned how to take instruction from someone other than my parents, I learned how to withstand peer pressure, I learned how to make friends (and keep friends), I learned how to be a leader, and I learned that life would hand me things that would be difficult, and that I could work them out on my own. I learned life skills. Social skills. And I was also put into situations that helped to shape the person that I am now. Most days, I like that person. As a mother, I don't want my kids forced into some of the situations that I was during school (especially throughout my teenage years), but I think conquering those things are an integral part of growing up, and guiding Sprout & Seedling through is part of my being a parent to them. Okay. End rant about homeschooling.
So I've got the preschool information night tonight at the private school. I already know I am not sending Sprout in September. She will be too young - though definitely cognitively beyond ready - and I am not ready to let her go quite yet. I also think if I put her through two full years of preschool, she will be bored to tears the second year, and then again in kindergarten. She is counting through to 13 (followed by eleventeen, her own made-up number), knows her ABCs, her address (including the city), her full name and birthdate, and she can recite entire books by memory and 'read' them to her little brother. I don't need to go on and on and brag about how crazy smart she is (I could. It would be a whole blog to itself). Her pediatrician said that her speech and vocabulary are on par with an average age of 3.5-4, as is her comprehension. There. Bragging over. I would like to send her there in January, so tonight is basically just to see what the program is like, and if they would take her halfway through the year.
When the hell did it come to preschool? I just brought my baby home, right? Good grief. The thought of her going to dance class by herself is enough to bring me to tears. That's right - dance class. On her own. I cried about it last week. She is already almost a year younger than the rest of the girls in her current, parent-assisted dance class, so I expected her teacher to recommend that she do the same class again in the fall. The thing is, she has caught up with her peers, and even excelled beyond them in certain areas. She will go to the next level in September, which both delights and scares me. When others always used to say "they grow up too fast," I would always scoff. Life was slow! I know now what they meant. Seedling will be 9 months next week, and he is signing, crawling, standing, walking around furniture, saying "Mama" and "Dada", and getting so big!
Cross your fingers, wish me luck, and all that jazz for tonight, please. I don't want to walk into the room and burst into tears, but it might just happen. And for those of you with children, give them an extra snuggle today, especially if they are under one. That first irreplaceable year blew by in an instant with Sprout, and I find myself 3/4 of the way through already with Seedling. Sigh. Also, perhaps...cross your fingers that Sprout doesn't have some kind of meltdown or say something inappropriate that will ruin our chances of getting into the school. She's been on a 'penis' and 'vagina' rant lately (hilarious blog about that coming up soon), and I don't think they would appreciate it. Although, probably better than what some people teach their kids to call their private areas (blog about that, too). Enjoy your evening, and don't forget to think about those precious first moments you held that baby in your arms. I know I will.
Love you, my sweet baby boy and beautiful, precocious big girl. You will always and forever be my babies.
xoxoxo
Mommy
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