Week 153

Feb 1-7

My baby is growing up...

A few weeks ago I started thinking about the idea of preschool for Jack. Well I have actually thought about it before, but never really pursued it seriously. Recently we have realized that we need a break. Mutually. Jack needs a break from the house and from his little brother. We need a break from trying to constantly entertain him. I don't mean that the way it sounds. It's just that he literally craves attention CONSTANTLY. It is impossible to properly stimulate him and get anything done.

Here is a typical situation-a simple craft project. While I am getting out all of the supplies and setting up he destroys the whole living room, spills something, wakes up his brother...I do damage control and quickly attempt to pick some of the stuff up that he has gotten out. Abel has a dirty diaper. Change diaper. While I am changing the diaper I realize Jack is getting into all of the craft supplies I have just arranged, there is glue everywhere, and stuff on the floor.

Deep breath.

I manage to reassemble the supplies, get Abel situated in his high chair, and start the craft. We do about five minutes of the craft and Jack gets bored. Now there is paint on his hands and he keeps touching things. He gets antsy and keeps getting out of his seat. I imagine paint everywhere, since he can't seem to keep his hands to himself. I quickly wash his hands and send him to play with his toys while I quickly attempt to finish up the craft and put things away. Abel starts screaming because he is hungry. Fun times.

I go to feed Abel and Jack gets antsy, decides to go into our room and destroy things. I can hear him but I'm feeding Abel. This was part of his plan. He knows I am occupied at the moment and don't want to get up because it will disturb the baby.

Forget about anything else like cleaning up the house, doing the laundry, dishes, etc. Reallyforget things like updating the blog, checking e-mails, reading something, etc. I feel like I can't get anything done. As hard as I try. Jack would seriously benefit from school. It would be an outlet for him. He could play with friends, have a teacher, and learn some new things. I would have a whole 3 hours to play with Abel and clean up the house. I might even get to do some of the things I want to do. Uninterrupted. :)

So after realizing preschool would be amazing for Jack I had to figure out where to send him. I did some major research, both on the internet and asking local moms. I finally found one that seemed amazing and not too far from our house. No matter where Jack goes we are going to have to drive a bit because there aren't really any preschools on our side of town. There are tons of "day cares" but that is not what I am looking for.

We finally settled on "Kilbourne Park Baptist Church Preschool." I was very impressed with the tour I got. After the tour I found out that it is apparently pretty competitive to get your kid registered. There is a hierarchy. Active church members, grandkids of active church members, kids who have siblings already registered...then the general public. They said some years they might only have 1-2 slots left after all of that and it is "first come first served."

I thought about that carefully. The flier read that registration opened at 10:00 am on a Thursday morning. I asked the lady what time I should get there. I was thinking maybe 7:30-8:00ish. She was hesitant to give me an answer, I could tell. She said that they have had people there as early as midnight the night before, but most people come around 5:00 am. WTH? Seriously? I really didn't want to be the mom who couldn't get her kid registered for preschool so I sucked it up.

Of course Ed has class on Thursdays so I had to plan this out carefully. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Were people literally going to be sitting outside camped out, in line? Was it going to get nasty? What if you have to go to the bathroom? I chose to bring Abel with me so I could feed him. I'm all about pumping if I have to, but I wasn't about to pump outdoors in 30 degree weather with a bunch of people watching me. I knew I could keep him super warm if I had to.

I had my mom come over at 6:45 to sit with Jack when Ed went to school. I got up around 5:00 am and left my house at 5:30. I got to the church a little before 6:00 am. Parking was along a street and the car was in the first spot. I just pulled right behind it. I prayed that the person in front of me would just stay in their car. I REALLY didn't want to sit outside in 30 degree weather, in the dark. I was ready to though. I had my blankets, camping chair, insulated coffee carafe, and magazines. Bring it on!

Luckily they stayed in their car, I stayed in mine, and as more people pulled up behind me they stayed in their cars too. Abel slept for the first 2 hours. At around 8:15 the workers at the church opened the doors and let us sit in the auditorium around tables. They provided a sign in sheet and everyone was super nice about who was there first. We all laughed that we were nervous about what might happen. No one got nasty or picked a fight. Finally at 10:00 am they came in to get us registered. I paid the deposit and Jack is officially starting preschool in the fall.

It is kind of bittersweet. He will always be my baby, but he is seriously growing up right before my eyes. I look at pictures of when he was younger and it makes me sad. I feel like it was not long ago we were teaching him to crawl, walk, talk, etc. I'm also excited to see him mature and start new things. He is so excited about school he can hardly stand it. I told him that he had to be potty trained to go to school and he has definitely made strides in that area. He has gone number two on the potty a few times now. He rarely has a pee accident anymore. I figure we have about 6 months to work on it. When I asked him if he wanted to go to school he said yes. I told him he had to get a little bit older...he waited about 5 minutes and then exclaimed, "I'm older now, I go to school!" So cute!