My baby is growing up....

Brian has his first official day of preschool tomorrow!!! I can't believe it! I wonder if I will cry...
Steve and I took him this morning to meet with the Director and for Brian to see what we mean when say "school," so it's less of an idea and more of a reality. He LOVED it. I love it. Daddy I think is a little shell-shocked. We met his teachers, and I really like them. They have two teachers in his class, and about 10 kids. I am liking that ratio. He will be going to a First Presbyterian Preschool, 5 days a week for four hours. It really is a wonderful school, I am so excited to have found it. All of their teachers have Early Childhood Education degrees, they implement very structured schedules for their classrooms, and they offer wonderful things for their 5 day three's classroom including, field trips, professional storytellers coming in weekly, and a teacher from the Norfolk Fine and Performing Arts School who comes in weekly to teach arts. I am confident that this will be such a positive experience for him. Brian is a really smart little boy who loves to learn, he just really needs the structure of a classroom.
When we visited the classroom, his teachers invited him to sit in the circle with the other children. He had a little trouble sitting still but the teachers assured me this is normal through an adjustment period, and in all fairness to him, there were a ton of neat things to look at. He was thrilled to talk to and play with the other kids and had no fear jumping right in and participating. As we were leaving I asked him if he thinks he will like school, to which he replied, "Mommy I already like it." So he can't wait to return tomorrow. The best bonus (unexpected) result? He is now telling us when he needs to use the potty, and using it independently. We started putting him back into underoos before Christmas and he has been doing better and better everyday but we typically still have to prompt him to use it, he has very infrequently been telling us when he needs to go. So over the past few months we have used school as incentive....i.e. when you are going pee pee and poo poo on the potty you will be able to go to school like a big boy! Well now that he knows what school is and has decided that school is a GOOD thing, he is adamant about letting us know when he needs to go, even going himself without help. We still are having challenges with the poop- but one step at a time...
This evening, I could really see what a huge impact our very short visit had on Brian. He said things like "criss cross applesauce" and tried to figure out how to sit indian style. I asked him to put away some toys and as usual he stalled. When I asked him to please listen, he ran and did it saying, "I have to listen! I am listening like you're teacher." And finally, in the circle in his classroom, all the kids have their names noted for their space in the circle. When the teachers were designating the "helpers" for the day, instead of saying their names, they spelled them and the children would recognize the spelling of their names. Brian watched this scene and said "B is for Brian!" Tonight he was looking at a frame with his name spelled on it and proceeded to spell out the letters of his name. He got 3 out of 5 letters right, and I was thrilled at his determination to figure out the other two letters. This is so exciting! I am so proud of my big boy!!!