Sibling Preparation Class & Preschool

Saturday we went to our sibling preparation class.  I think it was worth the $10 and I do recommend for any one of my friends who have a child age 3 and up.  When we first arrived we checked in and gave the instructor our check.  I looked over to my right and saw a pile of pink & blue t-shirts that say "I'm The Big Sister" or Brother and I started crying.  The smallest things set me off these days! There were a couple other things throughout the class that made me cry too, I just can't remember. The instructor had all of the children sit on the floor with her while she spoke to them.  Olivia was making me laugh because every few minutes she would turn around and smile at Matt & I.  The instructor told the children to raise their hands for several things i.e. she asked if they had gone shopping with mom or dad for the baby and all of the children raised their hands....except for Olivia.  She asked several questions where Olivia should have raised her hand, but she never did.  Matt & I got a good laugh from it...leave it to our child not to participate or listen to what the instructor was saying.  She was probably the youngest one there and she's not in school yet, so it's not her fault.  The children were shown how to put on a diaper on their baby dolls they brought with them.  Olivia did really good.  I didn't have to help her with the diaper at all.  She knew exactly what to do.  They also swaddled their babies, fed, and burped them.  It was very sweet to watch.  We watched a video and toured L&D and postpartum.  I showed Olivia the postpartum room we were in when she was born...there was no one in it, so I peaked inside for a second.  It brought back some sweet memories of those first couple of days.  Unfortunately no babies were in the nursery.  They were all with their mommies.  Olivia thought that I was going to stay at the hospital.  She said to me "I want you to come home with us".  I had reassured her I was not staying at the hospital...just yet.

We have been discussing sending Olivia to preschool.  We've gone back & forth of sending her this fall vs. waiting another year and we've come to the conclusion to wait another year.  We will be sending her to St. Cecilia's, which is about 6 minutes from our house.  I have researched various preschools in our area and I really want her to be in a Christian based school.  It is very important to us that she learns about God and prayer etc...I e-mailed the school's preschool director and she made me feel confident with our decision to wait until she is 4.  She said that most children start at age 4 and it is 3 days a week from 11:30-2:30.  The 3 year old class learns a lot of things that we go over with her at home.  She said they go over the alphabet, numbers, and by the end of the year they are writing their names.  Well, besides the social part of it, we can do that at home.  At age 4 they are introduced to religion, pledge of allegiance, prayer, and by the end of the year she should be doing basic reading.  So, we will be setting some time each day to do some basic preschool learning.  She already knows her abc's and can count to 20, but we can work with her to learn and recognize numbers and letters.  I also feel that waiting another year is going to be good since the baby will be here.  I don't want her to feel like since we have this new baby we are pushing her out the door to go to school.  She says she wants to go, but when I told her I wouldn't be there she said she doesn't want to go.  Which leads me to another...I really want her to get the socialization all children need.  We go to the library every Friday for preschool playart.  She really enjoys it.  The instructor reads a story which usually goes hand in hand with what she makes that day.  I am there with her helping her etc...although she is around other children I am still there.  So, we are going to enroll her in dance class in the fall.  They have a summer program, but it will be too crazy for us this summer.  The fall program is from Sept. to June and it will give her the interaction with other children and instructions from someone other than us.  I will still be there, but she will have to be with the class etc...We are also going to try to make an effort to take her to the children's church at the Vineyard right by my parents house.  Thank you Sonya for suggesting this.  I think it's an excellent idea.