School Daze

5 years ago, I ushered this wee site into the world by questioning the footwear fashion choices of a fellow passenger on a plane. Yes, it is my blogiversary!

At the time I began this blog, I was traveling like crazy while working on the Check 21 Project for the Federal Reserve. Sounds all stuffy and important, but it was really just a long line of dog days strung together. And no social life. Just long, long days of uncooperative people, stubborn computer servers and meals consumed out of vending machines. Then, 5 months later I became pregnant and began the long, slow descent into mommybloggerhood.

Truthfully, I am very teary-eyed about this site. I had no clue that I would get a single reader besides Average Jane, who, without a modicum of doubt, is my Original, Very First Reader Ever as she was the very first recipient of my shiny, new URL after I had tentatively hit "publish".

I normally do not do much on this auspicious date of bloggyhood, but there is something about 5 years that hisses "celebrate, dammit!". And I am not inclined to ignore the voices in my head since they usually mean business. Therefore, I am cobbling together a fewnotmany things to do a smalltinyminiscule giveaway this week in celebration of my Five Grand Years of Boredom and Blather.

I have more on this topic, but will expound on it later.

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In the meantime......

Because Jenny asked so sweetly and said "please", I wrote a guest post over at Kansas City Savvy Source on the topic of "preparing your preschooler for school" - it should be up sometime today. I really had to dig way back into my memory on the topic because with Anjali, there has not been as much preparation this time around. After all, this is the same little girl who has been asking to go to school since January. She knows her teacher's name and where her classroom is. Her lunchbox and backpack were purchased in the spring, in preparation for picnics and vacations. And she is persistent in telling Arun that she "will get bigger and go to school with you, too, Ah-woon. "So, yes. In a few short weeks, she will get her heart's desire. She is ready, to be sure.

With Arun, the decision to send him to school was more tenuous. It was harder for me to give him up, he was so small and I felt that I was being lazy by taking him to someone else when I was already at home. However, I knew that I must. With a newborn at home, he needed that social interaction and playgroups just were not enough. And frankly, he has flourished in the school setting and he likes the little routines it provides. And I appreciate having that independent assessment of him that friends and family are all often too hesitant to voice. While we have had no problems reported from his teacher, it still makes me feel easier at heart knowing that a professional is looking out for Arun, too. Someone who interacts with my child on a consistent basis. Someone who is not afraid to voice her concerns.

On a less serious note, school is just damned fun. All the traditional holidays are celebrated and I love seeing the newest construction paper concoction that Arun creates. I love poring over the Scholastic flyer every month with him. I love watching his selection process for show 'n tell - DUDE, that some serious business. I love hearing about his friends. I love Arun teaching me new songs I had never heard before. I love meeting up and chatting with the other parents while we wait for our kids to be let out. Everyone there is so friendly, none of that weird, competitive crap you so often hear about in the school setting. I love the "end of school" parade with the kids riding around on their bikes with streamers and balloons trailing behind.

So free. So very free. A sweet, absolutely precious way to begin our summer.

Yesterday, Arun asked why he was not going to school any longer. I explained that he was only on a break and that in a few weeks, he would be going back when the school opened again. I also told him that Anjali would be attending school with him. "Really??!!", he exclaimed. His face erupted into a big, shiny smile - the thought of Anjali going to school with him absolutely delighted him. As it will her.

And that is what all this school business is really about. Not about my getting a few hours of time alone to aimlessly wander the aisles of Target, but rather, it is about my children expanding their horizons. Damned straight, they are ready.

I hope the world is ready for them.