Maria's Preschool

Ready for her first day!

It's official. We've taken the plunge.  Bailey is enrolled in preschool!  Tuesday was her first day and she will be going twice a week.  How did we get here? When did our baby grow up???

She's in the owl room

While we lived at Asuncion Christian Academy, Bailey had daily contact with other kids, neighbors, teachers and even some of the kids' parents.  But after living in our house for the past year, I realized that Bailey was missing out on interaction with other kids (and adults).  99.9% of her time was spent with me, Dad and Nala.  Now to add Boston to that mix.  Not that it's a terrible thing to hang out with Mom, but sharing toys with Mom is a lot different from sharing toys with a fellow toddler.  And there's something to be said for NOT being the center of attention every second of your life.

She has a cubby! *tear*

So we started to look into preschools, or something of the like, to get Bailey out of the house a few days a week.  Thankfully, Brandon had connections at work to a woman - Maria - who has run a private preschool for 20+ years (Brandon's secretary's mom, to be exact).  The instruction is in English (though all the kids - save Bailey - speak Spanish as a primary language) and it is the unofficial feeder preschool for Brandon's school.  Before visiting California in June, we toured the school, met with Maria, and discussed the possibility of Bailey attending, staring in August.

Circle time

The classes run 8 AM - 11:30 AM, Monday through Friday, for kids ages 1 to 5.  Many of the students attend five days a week, but that was a major sticking point for me.  I'm not ready to "let go" that much and let Bailey's entire morning be ran by someone else.  Between breakfast, school, lunch, nap and dinner, we'd only have maybe two hours together in the evenings.  Not going there yet. Let's give it a few years.  Thankfully, Maria was flexible with us in terms of the schedule (and tuition). We pay half of the regular rate (the equivalent of $70) and Bailey goes to school two days a week.  We'll also probably take her on "special" days, too: birthdays, water day, etc.

Choo! Choo! Lining up with fellow classmates
to go to the playground

Tuesday and Thursday I got to shadow her in the classroom and I know that she's going to be just fine.   The only things that worries me a bit is the fact that all the teachers are English Learners themselves and don't understand Bailey. They're used to the emergent Spanish that most of the kids come in with, and have (probably) rarely had exposure to beginning English.  At one point on Tuesday, she said "potty!" as clear as day, and the teacher gave her a confused look.  Same with her "play toys?" question and "water?" request.  So, it'll take some adjustments, to be sure, but she's a bright kid and (generally) listens pretty well.

Plus, I speak teacher-eze fluently and will know that when your teacher says you were "sensitive" today, you were a bit of a cry baby, you little stinker! :)