Preschool visit

My contractions cooperated yesterday morning, so I was able to make it to Elijah's preschool visit. We went into the visit already exhausted (more on that below), so I had a feeling there would be a few tears and I was right.

Elijah did fine with the non-structured activities. Play time and snack time went great! :) Any time the teachers asked him to become part of a structured activity, he just cried and cried. I'm thinking this is probably pretty normal for a three-year-old just entering preschool. All of the other kids in the class have been there for at least six months, so they have had plenty of time to adjust to the routine.



Elijah is BY FAR the farthest behind in gross motor development out of all the kids in the class. He is also BY FAR the smallest. I couldn't believe how huge some of those kids look compared to our peanut! I also feel like he was one of the farthest ahead as far as cognitive ability goes. I felt I got a good sense for which areas of development will be exercised the most while he is there.

It was fun to observe play time because that is when Elijah was the most comfortable. He is such a gentle kid and he does not initiate any sort of behavior that will cause conflict. He loves to play on his own, but if someone approaches him he happily interacts with them. He is a really good-natured kid and people seem to be naturally drawn to him.



It was difficult to hear my little boy yell "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" through his tears when he got uncomfortable, but I think that us being there probably didn't help with that. It is going to take him a while to get used to that setting, but I really feel preschool is going to be sooo good for him. I am very glad I was able to sit in the classroom yesterday (there would have been little that would have kept me from going). I feel much more at-ease about his start date on February 23rd.



I don't know what in the world is going on, but Elijah has been waking up sooooooo early in the mornings. You would think that I would be all rested up, being on bed rest and all, but I am exhausted! We are all exhausted. We all get out of bed looking like it is 10:00 at night because that is how we all feel. This morning I almost freaked out when Elijah's wake-up time was 3:00!!!! When he gets up early like this we turn the monitor way down (can't turn it completely off thanks to croup) and we do our best to sleep through his talking and singing. We never get him out of bed before 6:00, but it is hard to get quality sleep when he is wide awake in the next room.

We don't know what to do. We feel like we have tried everything, but he just wants to keep getting up earlier and earlier. We never give him any sort of stimulation before 6:00, and we have even experimented with different bed times. And we are so so tired. Even if I catch a nap in the afternoon, I am still constantly exhausted. Poor Dan is walking around like a zombie most days.

We hope you all have a great Valentine's weekend! Thanks for checking in on us, as always.