Monday, September 13, 2010

My baby (sniff sniff) started preschool.

"Hang on just a minute, sweetie...."
"Mommy will take you outside in just a minute...."
"Can it wait 20 minutes?  Mommy needs to finish just one more audit..."
"I will be on the phone for the next hour.  Can you sit quietly and watch the TV?"


Sad to say that these words have been uttered by me more times than I want to count.

Yeah, not my best parenting....

and this has been the norm more the the exception lately.

I hate that.

But, its something that goes with the territory of working from home.

To top it off, I was starting to fall behind with my work.

And I had a few people complain about the "noise" in my office during the audit.

So, D and I both tried to come up with a solution.

We started to research day cares in the area.

Wow, quality part time day care is NOT cheap.

(emphasis on quality)

Then we started looking into preschools.

We visited many.

We ran numbers.

Drive time, tuition, time in school, available hours to work, etc.

We landed on one.

It fits in the schedule.

It fits in the budget.

It's ridiculously close.

Looks like my baby starts school.

I was ready and not ready at the same time.

I secretly thanked him the first morning for being a tad clingy.

Here's the first day:








After a lot of anticipation and a lot of "Is it my day to go to school now?!?!" , the day finally arrived.

It was bittersweet.

He was really ready to go, though.

He's meeting new friends.

...exploring the world around him....

...and not home being babysat by a television while mommy works.

Now, I'm taking Tuesdays and Thursdays off just to be with him (and do MOPS).

The time we're together is more quality and much more focused on us.

He's a lot more fun when I'm not trying to put him off all the time.
Work is more enjoyable (and caught up).
Housekeeping is actually getting done.

So, for now, I think we've found ourselves a solution.

One that we both love and enjoy.

And I love that.                       

5 comments:

mrsmarkdave said...

Do NOT allow Satan to beat you up. I do not know you, but from what I read you are a pretty darn good mommy. EVERYONE allows their kids to be babysat from the TV sometimes. (some more often than not)
He looks so sweet standing in front of the Welcome to Preschool sign. And how WONDERFULLY marvelous that you get to devote two entire days to him alone. I would say your kids are pretty blessed to have you for their mommy.

Jennifer said...

How old is he? My 3 yr old (who turned 3 on the FIRST day of school) is going to preschool 2 mornings a week for speech therapy this year. It was hard, but he was so excited that he made it easy. And dude, since big sister is in K 1/2 days, I get the whole morning to myself 2 days a week! Wow. Although today when I picked him up he asked "where you go Mama?!" as if me leaving him there was the ultimate betrayal. Ouch.

Unknown said...

I think he looks pretty happy and it sounds like it is a great solution. I think being able to have that quality time at home to do what you need to get done will be a blessing in the long run because now you can focus on him when he is home. He looks so cute in those pictures.

Anne @ http://lessonsthrulife.com

Debbie said...

I am a pk 3 teacher! My little charges have a wonderful time, learning and playing and getting loved on! I Am sure your sons teacher will love him just as much as I do my students!

Kathy said...

Yay! I'm so glad things are working out for you both! He sure looks happy and so grown up on his first day! Where does the time go??