Trey Goes to Pre-school. Take Two

No matter what time I try to go to bed, I usually don't end up turning the lights out until 1am. It's in my genes. Even though I knew I had to get up early this morning I still went to bed at 1 last night...and got up at six this morning. Ugh. After the coffee and my shower and the initial grogginess wore off I trekked upstairs with a sippy cup of milk for my little man on his first day of school. The muffins had just come out of the oven and the whole house smelled like blueberries. Isn't that so very June Cleaver of me? It won't happen again. Friday he'll be back to cold cereal. I walked into his room and rubbed his back and he peeked at me through one half open eye and said, "Mommy. What are you doing? I'm tryin' to sleep!" Ok, I'm finally seeing the resemblance to me.

We were on the road at 7:30. I forgot how many people are actually functioning this early in the morning. The streets were packed. My drive is now about 20 minutes instead of the very convenient ten it used to be. Strangely, my son is going to school right around the corner from where I grew up. I've moved eight times since living in the house I grew up in, twice cross country and here he is back where it all started. One of the intersections I pass used to be nothing but farm land and a little produce stand (for locals wondering, it's the corner of Santa Fe and Melrose). There are illegal immigrants dotted along the corner waiting for work. As I start to head up the hill, a white guy in a beat up Ford F150 pulls into a side road and the men make a mad dash to try to be the chosen one for work that day. My heart goes out to these guys. Can someone enlighten me and tell me why they don't try to become legal, and then work legally, make more money and actually have benefits instead of picking strawberries for $2 an hour??

We arrived at Trey's new school ten minutes early. You can't even enter the preschool area without a code to get into the iron gate. He had his cubby all set and ready to hold his extra clothes and we got him signed in. He didn't want to wear his name tag at first. I'm sure he was equating name tag with church and I usually just slap his name tag on his back and take off. I told him I would stay with him this time and only then was he willing to wear his identity on his shirt. All the kids start out in one of the classrooms and head out to the playground at 8 for an hour of outdoor play. Trey was latched onto me the entire time we were inside. I'm sure hearing one of the little girls cry the entire time wasn't exactly relieving any of his anxieties. I held his hand while he walked around the room, got in line, and while we walked in a line to the playground. Only after pushing him on the swing and then realizing that he could have a bit more fun without holding onto me did he let go and release me of my duties for the morning. Leah and I did nothing spectacular during our few short hours together. I was so tired I didn't know what to do with myself. However, I was able to do something I haven't been able to do since 2001. I watched The View! That's a big no no in our house. At 10am the tv must either be on Roly Polie Olie or Caillou. Can I just say how much I hate Caillou?? That child taught my child how to whine. Trey really didn't whine before he watched that show. He also taught him how to be afraid of imaginary monsters. The thought had never crossed Trey's mind before seing it on "educational tv". Yeah, educational in what?

I picked Trey up at noon and he had a great time. His teachers said he did fantastic, just a little clingy (at least he didn't cry) and he even showed off his charm by giving one of his teachers a kiss on the hand. Ladies, watch out! Those big blue eyes and his charming moves are bound to get him in trouble one of these days.

Now the only problem I have with preschool is how to pay for it when Bill is home and not receiving imminent danger pay, hazardous duty pay and all the other pay he gets for being in a situation where people want him dead. Ain't it great?