Pending Preschool

We baked cut out cookies this week. We haven't done that in many months and Linus has gotten quite good with the rolling pin and cutters. He chose to make lobsters, fish, ducks, and two styles of hearts. I focused on making Shakespeare cookies with this cool, wood cookie mold.


Linus starts preschool on Wednesday. We haven't had to hype him up for it because to him it is normal and a given. This is yet another milestone that he glides right into with no trouble. We'll see if that is still the case after a few days of the program. I've also been fully prepared. A couple of weeks ago we attended his class lemonade and I got to meet a number of his classmates' parents. The experience felt like one of those speed dating events where one spends five minutes with each person. While the parents chatted, the kids ran around the play ground and had tons of fun. Many of us had to haul our kids off crying to head home for the evening. None of them wanted to leave.

Heidi, his teacher, visited each child in their home for about a half hour. The point of the visit was for the child and teacher to get to know one another. After we let her in the door and Linus led her off to his room, I went into the kitchen to put away dishes and eavesdrop on their conversation. She talked to him about painting and asked if he likes to make a mess. He said, "No. Sometimes I do and then mama has to clean up after me and Matthew." Ha!

Before having children she was a first-grade teacher in the area. After her children attended preschool at Montview, she liked it so much she decided to teach there. I like her a lot. She and her assistant, Laura, have beautiful smiles and I think all of the kids will love them.

I also attended the Parent Orientation. Here we learned about our helping days, the kinds of snacks to bring, labeling clothes, the day-to-day routine in the classroom, and were warned that the kids will have runny noses from October to March. I got a bit emotional when I saw his cubby.

My third meeting was to learn about my specific parent job, which is being a Curriculum Parent. Another parent and I will do things to lighten the workload that Heidi has to take home, like cutting out things for projects, making play dough and gak, gathering materials for projects, etc. Heidi pulled me aside and asked if I could organize the pictures for her two classes this year. The pictures will be used for posting on a bulletin board so parents can see what the kids have been up to. At the end of the year each kid will receive a book with photos of their time in the class. I was relieved to receive this job and to not have to be on the fundraising committee. I have skills that could be useful on any of the committees, but I'll have the most fun with this one.