Preschool Prep

Tomorrow morning is the open house at Colin's preschool. I am excited and OH SO NERVOUS! We go from 9 -11:30am, with an assembly first and then breaking up into classrooms to meet the teachers and get a lay of the land. Tomorrow is an important day...if things go good, dropping him off for his first day next week will be a lot easier. If anything goes wrong...well, let's just pray that it doesn't! My prayer is that things are not too loud or overwhelming tomorrow and that his class is full of quiet children. (Yes, I realize that the exact opposite will happen!) :-) Colin has his lunchbox, backpack and fireman nap mat all ready to go and I literally cannot fathom that I am going to drop him off at preschool next week! It feels a little like the twilight zone. This boy was a newborn baby literally 5 minutes ago. I knew this day would come, but it feels so strange to imagine him in a classroom environment already, even if it is just one day a week. I am stressed out by the unknown in all of this and how Colin will handle a change this drastic with his sensory stuff, but I also have this feeling deep down in my gut that he is going to love it. There will be new things to learn and he is such a sponge these days...I think he will be blown away by how much fun it is, as long as we can get past the initial upset that is inevitable with a change this big.

The last time I left Colin somewhere was the day I quit work when he was 6 months old. With the exception of the occasional drop-off at his grandparents house (and even that is rare), he has not been dropped off anywhere. I don't know how long it will take him to adjust to this, so I am beyond anxious to get the first day here so that I can just know what I am dealing with. He will not even entertain the idea of being left at school and any time I bring it up, he says that I have to stay with him. Since he has no idea what preschool will really be like, I am hoping that he quickly sees that everything is fine and that I will be back. I am also wondering how long the teachers will let him cry before they make me come back and get him. :-) I'm REALLY wondering what it will feel like to be without a child from 9am to 2pm on Mondays! I have these visions of a clean house, laundry folded and put away, dinner done and my eyebrows properly waxed. I imagine what it will feel like to grocery shop by myself on Mondays and not have to purchase $15 worth of extras to keep Colin quiet and in the cart. I picture picking out my own library book and making a fall centerpiece for the kitchen table. I just don't know what I will do with 5 whole hours to myself once a week. It sounds decadent in the extreme. Heck, I might even paint my toenails! How about that! :-)