Preschool Tour

Matt found a conversation he had with Camden last night particularly amusing. He was putting Camden to bed and they were talking about how much fun it was going to be for Camden to visit his future preschool the next day.

"But Mommy says I can't say 'My penis needs to pee' at school," Camden informed Matt matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Matt said, "So what are you going to say instead?"

Camden thought about it for a few seconds before responding, "Just 'penis'".

For the record, that's not exactly what I was going for. I was thinking something more along the lines of, "I need to pee" or "I have to go to the potty."

And also, for the record? He did declare that his penis needed to pee during our preschool tour today. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

So, yes- we went on a tour of Camden's future preschool today. This is the preschool that both of my nephews (now 5 and 7) attended so it came highly recommended. Camden won't be starting until late August, but since registration begins soon, the director thought it would be a good idea for us to come tour now. Since my nephew, Will (better known as Camden's BFF), will also be starting preschool in the fall, he and my sister tagged along for our tour.

It was a fun morning. We checked out the playground first (priorities, you know), and then got to visit a couple of different classrooms. Camden and Will were very impressed with the toy selections in each room and wasted no time making themselves at home. This school also has a "discovery room", which I found especially neat. The discovery room is essentially a small-scale museum, where the students go to learn about different topics. The current topic is dinosaurs and the students were making volcanoes this week.

I was impressed to learn that this school has a Spanish teacher, so the students will have early exposure to another language. They will get to visit the Chapel twice a month, since the preschool is part of a church. I'm also very excited about this aspect of the school, as I'm looking forward to getting back into church ourselves soon. This preschool has a very low teacher turnover rate; most teachers have been there at least 4 or 5 years. Like the director said today: these are people who truly love what they do, because they most certainly aren't in it for the money. Gotta love that kind of honesty!

We wrapped up the tour by visiting the cafeteria where the students will eat lunch. It was a large room filled with long tables and tiny chairs. Camden saw the room and announced, "I'm ready for my lunch now!" I think he and Will were both disappointed when it was time to head home.

When school starts in the fall, they'll be attending three mornings a week. Of course, I get emotional thinking about my little boy going to school, but I'm also very excited for him. He's ready. I've known that for a while, but seeing how well he did during the tour this morning confirmed it for me. He held my hand for a little while when we first arrived, but then he let go and played on his own. We can only hope that I do as well letting go in the fall.

Posting in front of the school sign (name removed, obviously) before heading inside:

 

Playing some cars:

 

 I loved this moment. He was playing so nicely with Will, and then looked up and said, "Mommy!" before running over and hugging my leg. It was like he forgot I was there for a few minutes. Then after a quick hug, he got right back to playing.