As I suspected, they love school

I'll end the suspense for you - Sebastian and Collette did great at school today. It turns out that the hardest thing about the first day of preschool was trying to get them to pose for a picture. I see all my twin mom friend's FB pages with their kids standing still, or even hugging!, for their picture. Not mine. Here are my photo-keepsakes from today:

Pretty pathetic. 

Collette is posing but refuses to smile or hold still.  Sebastian refused to stand in front of the door with Collette because he wanted to go in the car but then hurt himself once he was inside the car and cried hysterically for a couple minutes.  He found some matchbox cars to put in his backpack which cheered him up enough for me to get a decent shot (that last one) but, again, no smile.  He is saying "cheese," for what it's worth.

Drop off went well - the director gets them out of the car and Sebastian was fine with it.  Collette was a bit scared and then started to cry but at pick up they told me she calmed down after 5 or so minutes.  And neither of them wanted to leave and go home so I will take that as a good sign.

Now, how long do you think they'll nap??

Better late than never

In case you didn't get your fill of back-to-school blog posts, here is one more.

Yes, the fateful day has finally arrived. Sebastian and Collette start preschool tomorrow. Weeks after everyone else has started school. But its cool. Preschool is serious business and its not to be rushed. We wouldn't want them to burnout on coloring and circle time by Thanksgiving.

And actually, our preschool doesn't technically start tomorrow.  Tomorrow is an hour long orientation for students and parents.  Then Tuesday, Sebastian and Collette will join half of their classmates for 2 hours (instead of 2.5 hours) and skip Thursday so the other half of the class can have their "first" day.  Next week  begins our real first proper week of school.  Oy.  Talk about taking it slow.

I'm 80% excited for them to start and 20% sad.  Well, maybe 90/10.  The fact that there is any sadness surprises me - I was sure I would be one of those moms just barely slowing down and kicking the kids out the minivan sliding door.  But it looks like I won't be because they tried on their little backpacks today (a marketers dream - Thomas and Dora...) and I almost started to cry.  It just seemed so real!

As for the kids, they are confused, mostly.  The thing is, we call their EI playgroup "school" because they have teachers and I leave the room.  So when I tell them they will start school soon, they answer back with all the names of their current EI teachers.  Try as I might to drive home the point that this is a new school with new teachers, it doesn't seem to be sinking in.  But, I guess that's what tomorrow is for.  Funny side note - I asked the twins what they will say to their new teacher and Collette responded with "Happy Birthday!"  I think she'll make a good impression.

I know that they'll love it - its basically a room full of kids and toys.  And snacks.  Really, what's not to love?  But I'm a mom now which means I have a special "worry" hormone going in full force just for instances like these.  I worry that the teachers won't understand them.  I worry they won't make friends.  I worry they'll cry and hate school (despite aforementioned toys and snacks).  I worry that Sebastian will poop every time and I'll have to go change him.  I worry that the teachers will like one twin more than the other.  Or, even worse, dislike them both.  It's weird for me to just leave them in the care of complete strangers, especially after rarely leaving them with sitters - and even then its usually a family member. 

Hopefully, they won't smell my fear.

I see summer!

I'm just going to skip over the fact that I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, that I turned 30, celebrated 5 years of marriage and that I went to Montreal to celebrate during my blog hiatus.  I'll get back to it when I feel like gathering my thoughts.  In the meantime, let's talk about summer!

Yes, summer is almost here (or already here depending on how you define summer for you and your family) and I am surprised to be excited about it.  Surprised because last summer was awful - the kids were in a rough patch (18-24 months, you were not my friend), we had record heat for the last two months of my 42-week pregnancy and my A/C was broken for most of that time.  Last July pretty much turned me off to summer forever.  Or so I thought.

This year, with Matteo and all the classes for Sebastian and Collette, I feel so rushed and busy.  Getting Matteo down for a nap and on time so I can wake him up in time to get out of the house and into the car and to whatever overpriced activity I signed us up for has been exhausting!  Not that I wouldn't do it again, I'm just tired of it now.  I'm ready to take a leisurely pace that compliments summertime so well.  With the twins starting school in September (albeit just 2 mornings a week...), I am excited to just go with the flow and live schedule-free.  Sure, they will still have a nap schedule - I haven't completely lost it!  But I won't feel the need to have each day planned weeks in advance.  I'm already relaxed just thinking about it!

So, as of Saturday, if you wanna hang out with some super cool toddlers, a very cute baby and me, we are officially free :)  And we have a kiddie pool - all are welcome.

Decision Made

We settled on a preschool, choosing to go with the first preschool. This is the one that is more of a typical preschool, run by the town's recreation department, not the daycare center one. Something I didn't mention in the last post was that this is a one year thing. For the following year, we will be applying to the public preschool lottery which is in the same building as their future elementary school. That program is 5 days/week. If we don't get in, we will look at other 5 day programs, probably in a Montessori type setting. Here were our biggest reasons for choosing this school despite the fact that the hours are shorter and its not as close to our house (but still just 5 minutes away):

1. Cost. That one's for you Auntie Kim :) I know it's bad form to talk about money but I think that's stupid. So, I'll give you some numbers. Preschool A is $1,800/yr/kid. Preschool B is $4,650/yr/kid. Now remember, I have two kids. So, this was a $5,700 decision. If Preschool B had been so much better than preschool A, it may have been worth it. But we know that we'll still have two more years of preschool to pay for after this so we figured we shouldn't spend to much this first year if possible.
2. Schedule. As someone pointed out to me, when you choose the days you go, there is the chance that you might miss things because they happen on teh days you are not there. For example, I'd be really sad if they missed the animal guy, or the firefighter, because it was on Monday and not a Tuesday. With Preschool A, this isn't an issue because there is no choosing - its simply a 2 day schedule.
3. Logistics. Drop off and pick up at Preschool is much better than at Preschool B. At Preschool A, someone meets us at the car - I don't even have to get out! At Preschool B, I would have to park my car in a parking lot and walk across a street with 3 kids to get them inside. Then, I would have to go up to the second floor (1.5 flights) to bring them to their classroom, take off their coats/backpacks/etc., all the while keeping any eye on Matteo who can't be in a stroller because there are no elevators to get up there. That sounds awful to me. He will most likely be walking by then and will have zero impulse control. It's a recipe for disaster.
4. Public school connection. Since this school is in our town (although a bit further than the daycare which is actually in the town next door), they communicate with our public schools and coordinate things like how they teach handwriting. It's a small thing, but it's nice. Somewhat related, most kids in Preschool A will be from our town (its a very small preschool) so they might get to know some future classmates.

So, that's that. We'll be sending them the check in a few weeks. Wow. That was fast.

Am I really writing a post about preschool?

Well, it seems I am. Yesterday I got a call, a day early, that both Sebastian and Collette made the lottery for a local preschool. It's not super competitive so chances are pretty good that you'll get in. But, it does get very good reviews from parents and I liked what I saw at their open house a few weeks ago. This preschool is run by our town's recreation department so is much less expensive than private preschools in the area. For their age (they make the 2y9m cut off by one week!), the program is two mornings a week, 9-11:30.

The only other school we are considering is actually a daycare center. They have a morning program and you can sign up 2, 3, 4 or 5 mornings a week, any days you like. The hours are 8:30-12:30 and I think they do lunch there - we are visiting this afternoon and will get more details then. The idea of having 4 hours just for me and Matteo is quite nice but the cost of this school is way more than double the other. And my guess is that both will be similar in their approach to teaching, learning and discipline.

So, now we have to make a decision. Billy doesn't want money to enter our decision but, true to my nature, I disagree. However, there are some things that concern me about the recreation department preschool (the less expensive one). First, they will have many more holidays and breaks than the daycare preschool because they follow the public school calendar. Also, they don't start until mid-September and they end in mid-June, already shaving off a couple of weeks from the public school calendar. Second, Sebastian and Collette will need to be potty trained by then. This might be a good thing in that it gives us some motivation to get it done. I think Billy especially needs a kick in the pants where potty training is concerned. However, you never know how your kids will react. They both show signs of readiness but Sebastian refuses to even sit on the potty. Who knows when he will feel ready? At least Collette will sit on the potty, albeit briefly and with no successes to date.

The daycare preschool is more convenient - longer hours, fewer holidays, walking distance to our home, no need to rush and potty train the kids (although I hope they are potty trained by then regardless!), we could have them continue school through the summer since its a daycare. But, I'm not sure if that's enough to justify the cost. Plus, there is that fact that, since families can choose their own days, that Sebastian and Collette may not have the same kids in their class on one day as they do the other. Does this even matter?

Advice? Which issues do you think are more important?