First Day of Preschool

I can't believe we're here already. The first day of preschool. I snapped this picture right before we grabbed our jackets (yes, it's still summer here, not that the weather has been noticing the calendar) and headed out the door. Anya was super excited....until about 5 blocks from school, where she commanded me to turn the car around and get elephant. Of course I couldn't, so there were big tears, which continued well inside the school building. After several unsuccessful attempts at consoling her, I had to literally pry her off me and leave. Ugh. Doing that just tears at my heart.

As expected, she got over it within a few minutes of my leaving and had a grand time. Her little report from the teachers said her mood was "curious, fun, and eager" and she was very cheerful when I came to pick her up. She played with Eva (her good friend Eva is attending the same preschool) and said she made a new friend Ella. She was a chatterbox on the drive home and wanted to tell me aaaalllll about her morning. So that's a good sign.

We're looking forward to her next class on Thursday. And we won't forget elephant this time.

preschool pics

Just a few pictures of Anya I snapped at infant co-op preschool the other day. The kids were all playing outside for a little while before class started.

Notice that Anya is wearing a sweater and a jacket, as are other kids. It's May. I'd like to officially complain about the weather, thanks.

Preschool

We received our co-op preschool notifications on Friday. I had been anxiously awaiting them for the last month or so. What a process. Basically, you tour and register for all of the schools in the co-op system you are interested in. Often (and this year especially) there are way more applicants than spaces available. Because I had Anya enrolled in infant co-op, we got priority registration. This is a bit of a misnomer, since people that had older children enrolled in the school (alumni) in prior years actually get priority/guaranteed enrollment. And then the schools open up x amount of slots for "priority" (my group) via lottery and another amount for open enrollment. My understanding before was that I'd have a guaranteed spot; obviously, not true. Pretty irritating, but what can ya do.

We registered at Wedgwood, Sandhurst, and Victory Heights. We really wanted to go to Wedgwood, since it's 5 blocks from the house, heavy community involvement, and great instructors. Second choice was Victory Heights. It turns out there were so many alumni at Wedgwood that they were only opening 5 spots for priority registration. It looked like about 40 registrants for priority, so our chances of getting in were pretty slim, especially since it was through a lottery. Another wrench was that we were trying to keep Anya and Flynn together for preschool, so even less of a chance of both of us getting one of those 5 spots.

Long story short, we got one of the spots at Wedgwood. And so did Flynn. And so did our PEPS friend Liam! Chris calculated it to be about a .2% chance that we got 3 of the 5 open spots. How cool is that?? I'm hearing from other moms that the Wedgwood waitlist is already insanely long.

So this will be Anya's preschool until she starts Kindergarten, assuming she's happy there. I love the idea of walking to "school", and really love that she'll be with her friends Flynn and Liam, both of whom she's known since she was just a few months old.

First Day of "School"

Today Anya started her first day of "school". It's actually the infant class of the North Seattle Co-op Preschool. And she already knows two of her classmates, Luca and Liam from PEPS. The idea of it is pretty neat. Right now, classes are just once a week for 2 hours and a parent (or parents) attends with the babies and acts as a "teacher's assistant". We each have a job/position (I'll pick mine next week) and also take a child development class once a month. As the kids get older, they go more days, but the parents just continue to go one day. And then the kids are off to kindergarten.

It feels kind of early to put Anya in "school," but it has its good points. 1) It's a social activity out of the house. 2) It's inexpensive. 3) The co-op preschool system is fairly competitive for 2 year olds and up. Putting Anya in now guarantees us a spot and we'll likely get our choice of schools (there are several neighborhood co-ops, some apparently better than others). 4) I have hopes that I'll learn something about kids and parenting and become more comfortable dealing with groups of children.

The first day was somewhat chaotic, with forms to turn in and instructions being shouted out by the teachers over squealing babies. It was hard listening to them and trying to watch Anya at the same time...but all the other parents were in the same boat and I can only hope we'll figure it all out eventually. Anya enjoyed herself and meandered (no, not the right word...that implies a leisurely pace. She quickly crawled and climbed over things and stole toys and I had to chase her a handful of times. She did not want to sit in my lap. She had things to do (tm) ). I also figured Anya would be the oldest in class. Surprisingly not so. She's right in the middle. There are a handful of 1 year olds, and I think only one, maybe two 5 month olds.

Anyway, I look forward to next week. But a thought did just occur to me. If Anya continues with preschool, she will be in school from now until at least high school graduation. For the next 17-18+ years. Mean mom is taking away her only chance at freedom from the classroom.