Preschool

Yeah! We FINALLY found a preschool for Malia. I have been looking for a couple months now, and I feel like I've called every preschool in the phone book and others that friends or family have told me about. Its hard work! I am just so nervous about sending my baby to just anyone...so I've been trying to find one that I trust and that isn't outragiously expensive. I had several referrals, mostly from people in my parents neighborhood, that helped me narrow down my search to about 3 or 4. And this week I have been visiting my favorites in person to see the facility and make sure it is clean and to meet the teachers, etc. I found that several of them sounded great but seeing them in person totally changed my mind. Even though it has been a struggle dragging my kids around town to see all the different preschools, I am very happy I did! It was hard on Malia to go to the preschools and not be able to join in the class with all the other kids. She is just ready to jump right in and I don't think she will have a problem adjusting. She's a very social girl!
Anyway, I had almost decided on a Preschool in Draper, Newcastle school - which is absolutely amazing...but it would have been difficult to get kids up and fed and ready to leave by 8:00 in order to get Malia there by 8:30 twice a week. I really wish they had another one closer to us. They were on the upper end price wise, but after seeing their curriculum and facility...it would be totally worth it. And I would have felt good leaving my child in their care. They had great security also and I was ready to sign her up...then my husband sent me an email from someone at his work about the preschool she sent her kids to - Sunshine Square. I checked it out yesterday and it is now my final choice. I really like their program and curriculum and the teachers were all so nice. The facility isn't as big as the one in Draper, but it wasn't as small as most of the others I'd looked at either. Anyway, I was very impressed and this one is much closer and a little less money per month than the Draper one, so I feel good about it and Ryan is happy! I think the thing that sold me was that while I was looking around, the teacher let Malia join the class that was going on and they included her in their little art project. And when they were switching to the science room (or whatever it was) they all held hands and walked down the hall to the next room...Malia was so cute just walking along with the kids holding hands. She was loving it. Anyway, I really like that they have smaller class sizes - no more than 8 - so that they can get a little more one-on-one than they would with more kids. Anyway, I am so excited for Malia to start preschool this fall. I think she is very excited too, especially now that she knows what it is after going to several of them this week with me. It will also be nice to give Cole some much deserved attention that he needs - and mostly it will be nice to have a break for a couple hours twice a week. I think it will help me appreciate Malia more and (hopefully) have more patience with her. She is such a smart girl and I think preschool will be so good for her. I can't wait! Now we just have to make sure Malia has figured out this whole potty training thing 100% by August or we can't do preschool anyway...