My Grown Up Little Boy

Simon is officially a year and a half old as of last Friday. He's talking a lot, and has finally gotten very good at (and very interested in) walking all over the place. It was a bit of a shock when we realized that he was not only just toddling around, sometimes letting go of the furniture, but actually walking around - even stepping over obstacles or turning around to walk the other direction. That takes a lot of coordination, which I think as adults we often take for granted.

Actually, maybe I don't take coordination & balance for granted so much. My husband is a clumsy guy, and I'm not exactly graceful. For whatever reason, we do more than our fair share of clunking into walls and furniture that hasn't moved in years, exclaiming "how did that get there?”

But I digress. Simon is currently no less clumsy than we are, which is saying…well, not much I guess. But we still think he’s amazing. And since he’s actually, objectively walking (style & grace notwithstanding), he meets the criteria to be a toddler.

And not just our criteria, but that of our local Guadalupe Montessori School, which means he qualifies to be part of their toddler programs. My baby’s going to school! Well, sort of.

Today I registered him for two summer sessions (2 weeks each session, for 4 weeks total) in the toddler program. It’ll only be mornings, 8:30AM-11:30AM, and only up to 5 other toddlers will be in the program with him…two of whom we already know, as they are children of friends of ours. I talked to the woman in the office about the school year, and currently they only have a few toddlers enrolled for the semester toddler program. If Simon likes the summer sessions and it seems like a good fit for our family, we might be enrolling him for mornings with the toddler program for the whole school year.

And that makes me feel the very first glimmers of “empty nest” syndrome, or something akin to it. My little guy going to school? Granted, he still won’t speak in complete sentences for a while, much less read or write, but I’m constantly amazed by the local Montessori kids I know. They are helpful and courteous and well socialized. Simon loves to be around other kids – he’s not shy at all, and is learning not to be too aggressive with little ones. Today at a lunch meeting he gently patted 9-month-old Lily’s head repeatedly, and she mostly smiled back at him. And the idea of actually having meetings that don’t have so much of a chaos factor due to his busyness…well, that’s enticing.

We’ll see how it goes. Now I have to gather all the items required for a toddler in the summer program and make sure his name gets on them all. Check back next week at Simon’s blog – I’m sure he’ll have lots to say about his first experience with school!