(Pre)School Days Are Here

After a summer of much anticipation, Parker has started preschool. I took the day off last Wednesday so my wife and I could drop him off, and then pick him up when the day was done. He did great; but the day was harder on my wife. When we drove to the unloading area of his school, and his teacher came to get him out of his car seat, he asked, "Mommy, will you take me inside?" An innocent enough question, and one we had prepared for, but instead of letting the teacher whisk him away, my wife hopped out of the car and disappeared into the school for the better part of 20 minutes. When she returned (with a tear in her eye), I asked why she caved in to Parker's request. I was promptly told to stuff it. It was a quiet ride back to our house.

Three hours later, we returned to Parker's preschool to pick him up. I'll never forget the smile on his face. He ran toward our car, jumped in and said, "Mommy and daddy, I had a great day - it was lots of fun!" I was by far more emotional when we picked him up than when we dropped him off.

A week later, he's already learned so much. He's talking about his new friends, bringing home homework (a.k.a. busy work for parents), and bragging about the awesome sandbox at his school. It's truly amazing how much he's blossomed in just a few days.

We'll sit back and enjoy the ride. Before you know it, it'll be time for kindergarten, high school, then college. On a side note, my wife and I had a meeting last night with our financial planner. He says we should be saving about $300 a month NOW for Parker's college education! On that note, I'm ending this blog and going to sale some lemonade at $0.25 a cup.