Thankful Thursday

Well, the week is almost over (thank goodness), and I have a night of good TV ahead of me. This week, we reached another milestone in the Brown house, Cameron has started preschool. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “It’s mid November, shouldn’t he have started a few months ago?” So I have a late bloomer and he has a procrastinating mother, sue me. Anyway, I digress. This week I am giving thanks for preschool.

It’s only two and a half hours, two days a week, but it’s GREAT! Mommy gets to workout and have some (relatively) quiet time. Cameron gets to get out of the house and away from me to play and learn and grow. It’s a win win. His excitement about learning is something amazing to watch. In the two days of school he’s had so far, he’s met new friends, learned how to “feed” a plant, painted a turkey, and learned how to play the “sticks”. He even asked for a plant to have at home that he can take care of. The structure is something that he really needed in his days.

He spends his time in a loving, nurturing environment with absolutely lovely teachers who seem to genuinely care. I know that the time he’s spending there is setting the tone for the rest of his educational career. It makes me so happy to see how much he enjoys his time at school, he jumps out of the car at the drop off and doesn’t even look back. Even on his first day, there was no apprehension, once we got there he was ready to go. I know this love of learning won’t last forever ( I remember how I felt about high school), so I’m going to thoroughly enjoy it while I can.

Today was a milestone inside a milestone. At morning drop off, Cameron’s teacher gave me order forms for Scholastic Books. The smell of the forms brought me right back to my elementary school days, cheesy I know. Cameron’s first fundraiser, my little boy is growing up. As I flipped through the catalog making a nice long list of books to buy, something dawned on me…Cameron has bookshelves full of books already. So this week I plan on donating some of the gently used books that Cameron doesn’t have much of an interest in. Cameron is fortunate enough to have loads of books, so we will share our good fortune with those who need books to read. I’m hoping that by having Cameron help me pick books to donate that it will teach him to be generous and share with others who might not have all the things he has.

Not only am I thankful for preschool, I am so very thankful for the men and women who teach. I am especially thankful for the teachers with the patience to teach the little ones and build the foundation for the rest of their lives.

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”
  ~Oscar Wilde

Cameron on his first day waiting in the drop off line.