Oh man, today is the day. The day I have been dreading for months now...the first day of PRESCHOOL!! I have been wrestling with what feels like a little monster gnawing in the pit of my stomach wondering if this is the right thing or not. This little monster has been busy and I've been thinking through so many scenarios trying to figure things out. Like the fact that Maddie cannot communicate her feelings yet. What if something happens at preschool...we can't talk about it when she gets home because there's no way for her to let us know what's happened. Kyle reassures me she has her way of letting us know things so we've decided to give it a two-week trial at and see how she does.
I have also been second-guessing my decision to place her in both the private preschool and the special-needs public preschool. It's just too much, too soon. We are leaning towards not sending her to public school. We have until Monday to decide, but I can say that just thinking about not sending her to public school has quieted that little monster in the pit of my stomach. Incidentally, I think he might look a little something like this...
only not as cute!
Messes:
Yesterday as I was working in the kitchen, Maddie pushed her Learning Tower over to the counter and by the time I realized what she was doing she had a couple of handfuls of salt spilled on the counter top, running her fingers through them, swiping the piles back and forth, making a mess.
I explained that messes are fine but they need to be planned. When we don't plan for messes, we are wasteful. We had to clean up the salt and she was more than a little disappointed. This was my cue she needed some sensory play.
I found a package of instant pudding in the pantry and we began making it.
Maddie poured the pudding into the bowl. Then we talked about the number two and poured two cups of milk (we used up some of our almond milk - I couldn't bear to use up two cups of raw milk!)
She whisked...
and tasted...
and investigated...
and played!
I don't know if it was the almond milk or the fact that Maddie did most of the whisking, but our pudding turned out REALLY runny!
And Maddie wasn't content with the sensation of pudding between her fingers.
It became a full body sensory experience.
Here's a tip a learned: If your mess-maker has a really messy shirt, you can roll the mess up onto itself before pulling the shirt over mess-makers head. That way you avoid the mess getting all over mess-makers face and hair!
After her messy sensory play, all was right with her world once again, and as a bonus she got a second bath that morning!
Mice:
It appears we have a mouse in the house
after grating some cheese for our enchiladas last night, this was the state of the cheese once our little mouse was finished with it!
Here's the thing about 3 year olds. MOST of them can not communicate their feelings yet. That is why they still throw fits, bite and are generally uncooperative. = )
ReplyDeleteAs far as knowing how her day went, a good preschool will have a daily slip letting you know her activities for the day, if she napped, and if she had any problems at all. Even at 6 it is hard to get my little man to tell me about his day and if there were any problems. He's already forgotten it by then.
Obviously you will do what you feel is the right thing, and it will be the right thing for you and your family. But don't agonize about it too much. You're a great Momma!