Preschool Prep

In exactly two days, Charlotte and Jensen will start an exciting new phase in their young lives with their first day of preschool! I never imagined that they would be starting a preschool program at the age of just 16 months, but I also knew exactly which preschool I wanted them to attend...and it turns out that if you don't get your kiddos in by this age, they will end up on a waiting list a mile long. So in February, I got my tiny girl and little dude all signed up for an August start. Back then, August seemed like a lifetime away...yet here we are.

I am so excited about this preschool. It is a faith-based curriculum and they emphasize learning through hands-on activities and play. We had our meet-the-teacher night on Thursday, and we love Charlotte and Jensen's teacher. They are in a class with two other little boys, and all four of the kiddos have birthdays within a month or so of one another. Best of all, their teacher seems very willing to work with Charlotte and any separation anxiety issues we may encounter. She said we could see how it goes, but if necessary we can start with only leaving Charlotte there for a few hours and then work up to the full 9:00-2:30 day. Of course I am incredibly nervous about leaving my little Bug (and her brother, too) but I have a feeling that they will soon feel very comfortable with their teacher.

While Brian and I (and the other parents) spoke to the teacher, the four kiddos ran around and explored their new classroom. Jensen of course made a beeline for the books. He picked one out, took it to one of the other moms, handed it to her, and then plopped himself down in her lap for storytime. Yep, that's my friendly little dude! Charlotte walked around the room checking things out and "talking" in her little Charlie-language. Overall a successful evening!

I've ordered and received their monogrammed nap mats, and on Friday Tita took us shopping for backpacks and lunch boxes.

Planes, trains and automobiles for Mr. Jensen. Owls for Charlie Bug.

I have labels ready to go for all their belongings, and I suppose I had better get to labeling! We tried out our new nap mats the other day. The kiddos were very interested in them. Jensen, of course, wanted Charlotte's pink one:

So Charlotte hopped into Jensen's blue nap mat:

(This face is one of Charlotte's signature expressions...kind of looking down her nose at you. Brian says she gets it from me, but whatever.)

There's a tiny smile.

I really wanted to get some pics of the kiddos modeling their new backpacks, but they aren't too keen on wearing them...so I just let them play with them for a bit. Jensen first tried to fit his backpack into his toy drum...

"Will it fit? No? Lame."

...and he then became very interested in the owls on his sister's backpack...

"Hmmm...maybe I like sister's backpack better than mine!"

...but he soon became distracted. By what? By his sister, who came up behind him and began hitting him with a giant stuffed dog (much to Jensen's delight, of course!):

On another note, Charlotte has some seriously crazy hair these days. I kind of don't know what to do with it.

So in the midst of all that craziness, I only managed to get one picture of either of them wearing a backpack:

Every time I look at this picture, my heart hurts just a tiny bit. Because I know that I'll blink and that little backpack with planes and trains will be replaced by a real one full of books and homework. Preschool will turn to kindergarten, kindergarten to elementary school, and so on. But for now, we've got preschool to conquer...I hope we can do it. I think we can. :)