a picnic by the lake & a preschool decision

Over the weekend, we went to a picnic hosted at a local summer camp. Outings are tricky these days, what with a toddler & tantrums & an ever-unsettled little baby girl. Still, we soaked up the day, enjoying the little bits of summer that are left. Sunshine skies, burgers & dogs, beer, corn-on-the-cob, family. I’ll take it.

On a separate-but-related note, the picnic was hosted by a local men’s group that my father belongs to. There were many other families there, some with babies & toddlers, too. Roman had a rather unpleasant incident that involved him taking another little boy’s toy & then having an epic meltdown upon having to return it. Actually, he didn’t return it. We took it away from him & let’s just say it did not go over well!

Anyway, all of this sort of cemented something for us that we’ve been thinking a lot about — we want to enroll Roman in preschool, two days a week for a few hours each day. It was a difficult decision to arrive at. Ya’ll know how much I love homeschooling him. On top of that, I’m pretty much the biggest control freak ever and the thought of completely relinquishing control and handing him over to someone else is terrifying to me. I’ve never left him with anyone beside my mom, mom-in-law, and my very trusted aunt — and even then it’s only been a handful of times and mostly because it was absolutely necessary.

Still, with all of that being said, it’s clear to us that while Roman is doing exceptionally well “academically” (does that even make sense for a two-year-old?), he’s a little behind socially. He loves other kids but he’s terrible at sharing and frankly he’s so independent that in social settings he kind of takes toys to the side and does his own thing. It may be that he just prefers solitude — both M. and I are incredibly solitary people — and that’s totally fine, but the not sharing thing has got to change. Moreover, we want to give him the opportunity to be social.

We’ve been spacing out Roman’s vaccines so he’s a little behind on the state requirements. We’ll have to get him caught up which should happen by early autumn, so it will likely be another month or so before he gets started. In the meantime, we’re setting up tours, we’re talking about school & building excitement around the idea for him. Even if, in my own heart, I’m sick with worry and uncertainty.

Enrolling him in preschool doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop homeschooling him or that we’ve decided against homeschooling him come time for kindergarten. We haven’t made that decision yet. It’s just something that we feel is important for where he’s at right now, developmentally. With me being a stay-at-home mom and with the limited amount of exposure that Roman has had to other children (most definitely due to my own solitary nature) we feel like this is the right step for him & for our family at this point. It’s nerve-wracking but it’s also exciting and I can’t wait to see my baby boy blossom even more.

Here’s hoping that you had a beautiful weekend & that a great week is on the horizon. xo