Between the Tears

BD and I went to see Fa's "pre-preschool" last night. I cried. A lot.

Fa will be 3 in late December, so that leaves her short of the cutoff date for school. This means that she will be one of the oldest in her class...all the time. She is just short of the separation program, so we will be in "Mommy & Me" one more year. (Fine with me) The school is a Co-operative day school which means that parents volunteer their time throughout the year in order to cut tuition costs. (Not my cuppa tea, because I am an outcast...but that post will come later, for sure)

The director is a sweet lady who used to be a parent to two students in the school. Her kids are now 24 and 20 and she cried speaking about how fast the time goes. On gushed my waterworks. I cried when she told us to cherish this last time with our kids in a "Mommy & Me" school environment. Especially since I feel that way already. I cried when she told us how our children will mature and change as the year progresses and we will marvel at their emerging independence. I cried when she told us that the entire staff gets teary-eyed when they talk about their love for this age group. We clapped for her tear-inspired speech, then it was time to meet Fa's new teacher.

I cried when she smiled at me and told us we are our children's first teachers, I cried when she read a story about a little boy's first school experiences and I cried when she told me that she brought her kids to the same school 20 years ago and she sat in 'that corner right over there' with her son for a week because they couldn't separate form each other. I cried when she started tearing up because the time sure does fly.

"What the hell man?" was BD's thought as he snickered at me tearing up the entire night. He loves to see me whimper like that...he thinks it's silly. I am an emotional ball of booger when it comes to Fa and I cry over everything anyway, so this just topped the cupcake right off.

Time to sign up for snack duty. We signed up for two days each. Those are the days that we are required to bring a nut-free, healthy snack. Teary-eyed, I signed up for October 30th (Good Halloween day) and I signed up for December 18th (two days before Fa's birthday) Uneventful, but teary.

Then, 'Questions' were opened up to the parents. Here's where I learn that the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. The very first question was a food allergy question. Great, I need to know what not to bring on my snack days, informative and helpful.

Here's the winner: "What exactly will the children be learning here in school?" C'mon douche...they're TWO! So, I giggle between the tears. The teacher stresses that it is a "Learning Through Play" philosophy and they will learn to share, cooperate, learn pre-math and science skills, learn patience and self-control, reading...I loved the teacher's answer, I wanted to hug her because those are all the things Fa needs to be exposed to. I love this place. As a teacher, I understand what the pre-school teacher is thinking and I know how she is going to relate to the students...I will never understand how she is so patient with the pain in the ass parents.

As usual, there will be that one parent that totally rubs me the wrong way. Someone who grates on my very last nerve and just makes me want to spit down her neck. She fucking asked the teacher if they will be using flash cards and other teaching tools to enable the kids to learn colors, letters, numbers etc...They are fucking TWO. Now, I'm not braggin', but Fa knows all her letters, colors, numbers 1-100 and she reads..honestly, I'm not lyin'. But, I spend time PLAYING with her. Not using Flash cards, or practicing anything...we p.l.a.y. Period.

Just let the kids be two. They'll never be two again. They will have to deal with life and everything else that school and bullies and other kids throw at them. I can not wait to see what this woman's kid acts like. I bet you she's just as obnoxious as her mother. This should be a fun year. At least, I won't be crying so much because I'll be worried about conflict with dopey and her daughter. So, between all my tears, I'll be arguing with an asshole.