we do school now

At the beginning of September Mario started school at a little pre- school/ play school in our neighborhood. He goes two half days a week.

In August I was feeling a bit of pressure, as he is nearly three, to get him into a different routine during the week. He has been going to my moms every day since he was born and now with his older cousins in full time school I wanted to give my mom more of a real break and give Mo a chance for new experiences and to hopefully make some friends!

Our school selection process was the opposite of rigorous. I was actually a bit intimidated by ALL of the options across town and surprised by how many existed in our own neighborhood. My two requirements were: 1) it be close to our house and easy for my mom to pick him up. 2) that the teachers had 'pre school vibes'. Which to me meant super friendly, nice, polite, and a tad eccentric. Mike's main callout was that he wanted the school to have access to an outdoor space that they used everyday.

I am happy to report that all three requirements were met by the second school we visited. I stopped right there and reserved Mario's place for fear of going too far into a dark hole of school visits.

The school is very cute and focuses on 'the arts' which when you are a toddler translates to coming home with paint on your clothes (washable of course) nearly every day & A LOT of art projects. The two I have been most impressed with thus far are an apple pie craft with paper and real cinnamon and a squirrel sculpture made out of a small paper cup. Art I guess :)

With this new routine I have now quickly adapted to making sure Mo is bathed the night before school, he has a lunch packed and the backpack is set with a change of clothes, water bottle & stuffed animal companion. This is a big deal for us, we are total slackers on bath time and most often Mo has some form of pajamas in his #OOTD. 

I would be a big faker if I didn't note how Mo's attitude has definitely adjusted. He is definitely more irritable now with his new schedule & has some extremely cute apprehension about drop off most days. But he is getting much better and really enjoys his days.

I am very happy we opted to have him start this year, I am excited about the future milestones he has at school in the months to come. Plus the school goes all out for birthdays so we have to figure out what we do for our late December born boy.

xx Ly