Georgia has officially been accepted into pre-K, and boy, do I have a lot of feelings about this!
In some ways, it’s easier than it was with Ruby. The emotional toll of sending Ruby to pre-K, I am pretty sure, is what prompted me to get pregnant with Georgia in the first place. “My baby is growing up?” I must have thought. “Well, I better have another!”
It will be easier sending Georgia to pre-K for several reasons:
- I have done this before and will be less stressed out about it.
- Georgia is going to pre-K only steps away from where she already attends a 3-year-old program and where she will be attending camp all summer, so the transition should be pretty seamless.
- Georgia is just an easier kid, much more willing to go with the flow than Ruby was or is.
There will be some changes – she will have to wear a uniform; she will likely have at least some kind of homework – but ultimately, I am really, fairly uncharacteristically, not that worried about it.
There are, however, several reasons why sending Georgia to pre-K will be harder than sending Ruby:
- She is still so tiny. At age almost-4, she is still in 2T clothes. She probably won’t be big enough for a booster seat until age 6. She is fiercely independent and extremely verbal, but she is still just 28 pounds, and I can’t quite wrap my head around the idea of her eating in the cafeteria with fifth graders.
- She is younger than Ruby was when she started pre-K. Ruby, a December baby, was closer to 5 than 4 when she started. Georgia, though, will have just turned 4 at the end of May when she starts in August. Again, I am sure she can hold her own; I just have had less time to get used to the idea than I did with Ruby.
- She is my baaaaaaaaaaabyyyyyy. I have always babied Georgia more than Ruby. Some of this is due to their personalities, but some of it is just my own inherent maternal bias.
I am excited about Georgia starting school, and I am sad about it, too. Every parent can understand that, I’m sure. I also am confident that as the day draws closer, I will in fact start panicking and stressing and that, just as I did with Ruby, I will sob hysterically my entire way to work after Georgia walks bravely into that pre-K classroom.
The only thing I know for certain right now is that I definitely won’t react by getting pregnant again!
