School is almost here

Last week I had a new parent orientation meeting at Marek's Montessori preschool. He got to play in the playpark outside while I met with his teacher, the administrators and other parents. I had been a little nervous about how he would separate from me there that evening, since he had only been there maybe two or three times before (and only once recently). When I found him after my meeting was over, he was at the top of the slide with other children. He smiled so big when he saw me, then his eyes quickly filled up with tears. I thought, "he missed me so much!" But then he exclaimed, "I don't want to go home, Mommy! Go away!" He was busy playing and having a great time! He and a handful of other children, along with one of the childcare workers, had gone on an imaginary trip to San Francisco and were heading up into space on their rocket ship next. He was quite excited about this. We were finally able to leave without too many tears or protests. But it was obvious that he was quite taken with his new surroundings. He went back two days later to have a one-on-one meeting with his guide in the classroom. She seems so sweet, friendly and calm. I think he will just love her. She showed him how to do a few things in the classroom, they fed the fish, and she showed him the bathroom. And once again, as we were leaving, he insisted that he wanted to stay longer there. His first day is Sept. 10th and I'm hoping it goes just as well as these initial introductions! I'm taking the full morning off from work that day. He's growing up so fast.

One humorous thing happened when he was playing at the playpark at his preschool last week. When I was signing him out, the childcare helper asked, "how do you spell his name?" I replied and she had this look of utter confusion on her face. "He told me his name was He," she explained. I just burst into laughter. Marek's been going through this phase for the past two or three months that his name is now "He." He claims Grandma changed his name. We've all had numerous discussions with him about why we sometimes use "he" when referring to someone, etc., etc. There's a bit of humor in his insistence on being "He", so I think he knows the truth. And, luckily, he still responds to Marek. But every once in awhile, he still says, "No, I'm He!" We'll see what he tells everyone at school!