Grey Day, Rain Pants, and Preschool #3
So, there are so many things in my head that I want to write about! At least three or four things come up each day. Alas, I don’t have the time to write whenever I want to.
Today I’m wishing I could curl up on the couch with a cup of coffee and my latest novel. Or maybe drive to the library and pretend to be a woman of leisure with nothing to do but comb the stacks of books looking for the perfect diversion. Sometimes I think I missed my true calling: now at 33, I’m kinda wishing I’d checked out UC Berkeley’s Library Sciences program when I was there.
I have exactly 2 more hours to work until I have to pick up Lucas from preschool.
Speaking of preschool (this is something I’ve been meaning to write about)…. Lucas LOVES it. In fact, he hasn’t complained once about his new school. Not once! He rises bright and early and asks me every day, “What day is it today?” meaning, what am I doing today, Mom; who will I be with? When I tell him it’s a preschool day, his face lights up. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me feel. When I pick L up from school, I have to drag him away from school at the end of each day. He’s always covered in dirt and mud and sand from head to foot, tired and extremely joyful, except when I tell him it’s time to go home.
Miss Jennifer says that Lucas has fit in beautifully with the other children, and that it just seems as if he has always been with them from the start of the school year. She says that he plays beautifully with both the younger and older children. So, yay! And there are enough children in the program, so I don’t think she’s gonna close (knock on wood).
Yesterday I went online to find rain pants–rubber/plastic pants for him to wear outside in the wet weather. The garden is not off-limits just because it’s damp and rainy outside. In fact, the sand makes such great castles when it’s wet. The kids will be outside all day until end of November, I think, when it really gets cold.
Ian and I have been wondering lately if it’s just a developmental milestone or whether this is directly because of the Waldorf environment that Lucas has been in lately. It seems his interest in representational toys has waned tremendously. By “representational” I mean toys that represent real things (dolls that look human, tools that look like real tools). Lucas now spends most of his time playing with natural or everyday things and turning them into whatever he wants with his imagination. Sticks become magic wands, hats become crowns, etc. It’s really fun to watch. So, is it because he’s usually in environments that don’t have representational toys, or is it because his brain’s language center is now sufficiently built up that his imagination has taken over and is more powerful and fun than any single toy with one use can possibly be?
