And We're Here Already

1st Day of Preschool requirements: baby doll, stroller, light up shoes, sunglasses, Sarah and Duck backpack, and rocketship lunch box with mermaid water bottle inside

Little Lady Wads started half-day preschool two days per week. I didn't think I would send her to "school" before the age of 4, but stay-at-home-parenting is not for the meek.

Back in January when other parents began touring schools for their recently minted 2 year old, I couldn't picture being away from A for a full day. Did I want affordable childcare and a freakin' break, OF COURSE, but not the fully institutionalized structure of "school". I could already feel our quiet, solo time together fading and I wasn't ready to give that up (even though I was exhausted and needed some space).

So, I didn't do the tours or put in deposits or sign our names to a waitlist. I just carried on solo parenting. We tried a babysitter who gave me some relief in the form of a 3hr break once a week, but she ghosted less than two months in, and that was that. (One of the issues with full-time parenting is that you have zero bandwidth or breaks to do things like research and tour preschools.) Spring break came and then the school year ended. Summer meant H was home full-time and life carried on.

And then sometime in August, A's play began to change. Thanks to both Toy Story and Doc McStuffins, her favorite form of play became "Mama, you want to make my animals talk?" At first this was adorable, fun and no big deal. And then it became every day, every hour, all.of.the.time.

We knew A needed friends and I needed support, stat.

I spent about two weeks in September emailing, touring and thinking through our options. There are 5-7 preschools here, but really only one that was in our budget, would put A in the "3 year old" group, and had an immediate opening. Done and done.

We're less than a month into the whole transition and I'm so proud of her. She's doing great. I'm holding my breath for a little longer because you never know with how their little bodies and brains will process a change, but I'm hopeful this is just the weekly time apart we need to be our own separate selves before coming back together as mother and daughter.