Preschool

We have entered a new world, and it's the world of co-op preschool.  It's a pre-3's group, where all the kids are right around Violet's age, and it's only 2 mornings a week, and one of the mornings I stay there with her....  So, as far as preschool goes, it's pretty mild.  

But Violet and I are cut from the same cloth, and after the first week of this, we are both feeling a bit like a dump truck ran over us.  

Wednesday was the first day I dropped her off and left her there alone with the other kids, moms, and teachers.  She was fine when I left.  Gave me a kiss, and said goodbye.  But I guess (to quote the teacher), she got a little weepy a few times, and asked the teacher to give her a hug.  She didn't want to play with any of the other kids, she just wanted to shadow the teacher, and was a bit scared to leave the art table.  

It's funny how much of myself I see in her.  It's not that she loves art; she more sees it as a comfort of some kind.  --Just to sit quietly, and focus in on the paint and paper and her own little hands--  It's the doing of art that is the real joy, and it's a way to escape the pandemonium of the other kids and the world around her... 

Anyway, Fridays I am there working in the classroom (that's how co-op works).  It was my job today to supervise the play-dough table, so of course Violet decided that she wanted to play with play-dough the whole time, or at least until all the kids were sent outside to play with sidewalk chalk and push cars for a bit.  My gosh, you guys, there are 22 kids in this thing, and it gets crazy.  There, of course, is one massively huge and aggressive kid-- (is this kid actually 2?  He seems more like he's 7).  He runs around the play yard getting upset at all the other kids-- pushing them down, using his brute strength and unfair size-advantage to get what he wants;  At one point he actually stuck his arm through the window of the toy house and just started grabbing the faces of the kids inside!  This kid scares me.  I am not really a kid person, the way that some people just love every kid they ever meet;  I kind of wanted to pull my hair out by the end of the day.  It's Lord of the Flies, just a little, and I'm not sure how to help Violet feel more comfortable with it all.  

We'll see how it goes.  She loved going to school in India, and has been longing for something to do with other kids and crafts and teachers all summer..... so I guess preschool is a good option.  It's hard to tell if she's actually ready.  

When we got home, both days, she wrapped her arms around me and just wept.  Then, the next day, had [mostly] only good things to say about it.  Maybe it will just take a little more getting used to.