Am I proud of my boy? You bet!

After kind of a rough start at preschool, Liam has figured out how to live with rules laid down by someone other than Mom and Dad and is doing great.

I dropped him off on the first day, August 30, and he was just fine. "Go Mom," he said.

When I arrived back to the school that afternoon to pick him up, Mrs. Eaker, his teacher, came out to tell me he did really well until the last two minutes of class when he hit the little girl sitting next to him. So Mrs. Eaker took his candy away and made him put his head down on the desk. And, she said, "He is quite upset about the whole thing." When he came out into the hallway he was just sobbing his little heart out, big ol' tears and the works. I waited until all the other kids were gone to chat with the teacher for a minute and Liam told her, again, that he was sorry. Not the best first day. Mrs. Eaker did, however, tell me that she didn't see it happen, but that when she asked him if he hit Courtney, he admitted that he did. So . . . at least he didn't lie.

Naturally on the way home he announced: "Mom, I'm not going to school tomorrow."

I assured him that yes, he was going to school the next day, but that tomorrow was a new day with no mistakes in it. He would be starting new and fresh and clean.

After school the next day he informed me: "Mom, I did not hit her today." He made it sound like maybe she needed to be hit, but that he didn't do it. What restraint!

The next week the teacher put six little paper bees on the wall under each kid's name. The goal is for them to keep all their bees. If they are bad and get into trouble then the teacher takes away their bees. Liam decided right away he didn't want to lose any bees. So on each afternoon since the bee program started he tells me when I pick him up, "Mom, I didn't lose any bees today." He is also very quick to point out other little boys who have lost bees. One day one little boy had only two bees left! Shocking!

This week Courtney has been gone. Liam told me on Monday she was gone and he didn't know where she was. Then yesterday on the way home he told me he hoped Courtney hadn't "gone to be with Jesus" cause he missed her and wanted her back at school. Today I asked the teacher if Courtney was sick and was she coming back because my little soft-hearted boy missed her. She and I had a good chuckle over how quickly he went from wanting to swat Courtney to wanting her there in the seat next to him. Turns out Courtney went on vacation with her family and will be back next week.

Mrs. Eaker told me several things today that made me feel pretty good about my little boy:

She is keeping an extra close eye on him because Liam doesn't tattle. Now in my mind not tattling is a good thing, but she is concerned that he wouldn't tattle even if the other kids were really being mean, so she is watching out for him. He is the smallest boy in the class, and she is extra careful about bullying. This I definitely appreciate.

She thought at first he might not be ready for preschool, but she says he definitely is. He is intelligent. He is also very well-spoken and extremely polite.

These are her words, not mine!

All I can say is apparently he hasn't yet had reason to tell her: "You're bustin' my chops!"

I wonder if he knows that would likely lose him a bee?

The deed is done

Today I endured one of the first of many stressful things I get to do as the mother of my son.

On this day, I registered him for preschool.

Yes, boys and girls, Liam will begin the endurance test known as education this coming fall. Hard to believe the little blighter is going to turn four the end of next month. He very excited about school at this point and I hope he can maintain that attitude for several years to come.

However, let me tell you about my day.

Actually, this whole process started yesterday when Liam’s daycare provider told me her little boy got the last slot in the Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning four-year-old class at Bethlehem Lutheran Preschool. This meant Liam was not going to be able to be in the same class as Gavin, the little boy he has had daycare with for the past 2½ years. That coupled with the fact that I really needed a morning class for him to be in, led me to pursue alternatives. Although touted to be the best in the area, parishioners get first dibs and this coming fall there are no dregs. Apparently there is a plethora of 4-year old Lutherans in this town.

So last night I started searching for other preschools in the area. The local Christian center has a preschool. I was impressed with the curriculum information available on their website, so I called them first thing this morning. The gal I got on the phone assured me that: no, they didn’t have a specific day for registration; yes, they had plenty of room as they had only received just a couple of registration forms. Well alrighty then.

My next call was to Liam’s pediatrician’s office. I needed a copy of his immunization record. The gal I got on the phone said all I had to do was to come in and sign a records release and I could pick them up right then. OK, this was going smoother than I had imagined.

I left work early and headed straight to the medical center. I filled out the records release form and the gal says, “Now you will need to put your address on there so we can mail you the records.” WHAT?! I told her what I had been assured of over the phone and, after rolling her eyes at me, she went back and got a copy of his records. His file is there, they have a copy machine. What is the problem?

My next stop was the bank to get his birth certificate out of the safe deposit box. Thankfully the teller was very gracious about making a copy of it for me so I didn’t have to run all over town for that.

Finally I arrived at the school with all my little paper ducks in a row. When I walked in the door, the secretary asked me if I had called this morning. I said yes, I had. As I was writing my check and she was looking over my paperwork we had a conversation about the other school being full and that they needed to get prepared as they were likely to get slammed and I had gotten my act together today to avoid the melee. I told her I figured as soon as word got out the Lutheran school was full, parents would be flocking to their doors. I think she thought I was kidding, but as I was leaving two other mothers were walking in and I overhead one of them say to her, "I need to register my little boy for four-year-old preschool." The secretary’s eyes met mine for just an instant and I smiled . . . told you so.

Although this was the busy, stressful episode of my day, what a milestone! I don’t want to rush summer, but I am excited for fall and this new adventure Liam gets to have. It will be his first without Mom or Dad tagging along and that is a wow for all kinds of reasons.