Preschool....

McKade & Gram aka "Teacher Bobbi"

McKade, my sweet 4 year old, started his second year of preschool today. That means for me....getting up extra early to take him since we live 20 minutes away. We could have picked a closer preschool for him to attend...like the one two minutes up the hill from where we live....but there is something special about the preschool he attends. His Gram is his teacher. So at school he calls her Teacher Bobbi. Everywhere else he calls her Gram. Unless, he wants to tease her, and then he just calls her Teacher Bobbi.

So last year, McKade had a challenging year. Developmentally he wasn't quite ready to participate in a class full of kids. He is a smart kid, just wasn't really socially mature. So he wasn't willing to sit at circle, do his art projects, sing the songs, etc. We decided at the end of the year that instead of moving him up to the second year class, he would stay in the first year class again. His little friend Casey was also going to stay in the first year class.

McKade should start Kindergarten next fall. He will be barely 5 years old because his B-Day is toward the end of July. We decide that instead he would go to the second year preschool class and he would start Kindergarten when he was 6. Since after all, he will barely be 6. We just don't want him always feeling like he is trying to catch up, since he would be probably one of the youngest in his class.

McKade's preschool is a Co-op preschool through Centralia College. I really like this format because there is a tremendous amount of family invovement. It's really like we all become a big " family". We get to work in the classroom too as part of the contract. It's just a lot of fun seeing the kids grow and learn throughout the year.

So I was a little worried about McKade's first day today. Thinking we might start off the year as a repeat of last year. He popped out of bed this morning, happy as a clam and roaring to go however, which was excellent to see! And when we got to school he sat right down on the red tape, and participated in introductions. I stuck around for a few minutes until he turned around and said "mom, you need to go now. You can't stay here" (what am I? Chopped liver? I'll have you know, I birthed you little boy! and your head was not exactly small....). So I left.....

I took Tanner and Molly to a couple stores in town during the 2 1/2 hours of preschool. Then something really scary happened. We were at KB Toys and Molly was buckled into the kid seat and Tanner was in the back. He stood up and reached for something only to tip the cart over with him and Molly in it. Molly hit her cheek and the side of her head. And it seriously freaked me out....I just started thinking she was going to have a head injury or be seriously hurt....and she did look a little dizzy for a couple minutes. You could tell she couldn't focus well....FREAKY!!! but after about 5 minutes of me just soothing her she snapped out of it and was back to her old self.

So, then it was time for us to go pick up McKade. I prepared myself for a naughty report as I often got last year. But he got a 100 % excellent! Yeah for McKade! I am excited that this year just may be looking to go a bit more smoothly. Time will tell......