Summer is Flying By

I looked at my calendar just now, and nine of our fourteen weeks of summer are already over. I can't believe how quickly these weeks have flown by! In just five more weeks, Caleb will start attending prekindergarten four mornings a week at a local church (thanks to the generosity of his Nanna & Papa) .

Side note: even though my son is already registered and I fully intend to send him to preschool next month, I have to take a moment to make fun of the idea of "prekindergarten". When my grandparents were kids, kids started school at age 7. When my parents were kids, most kids started school in first grade at age 6. When I was a kid, almost everyone went to kindergarten at age 5. And, now, we've got this new thing called pre-kindergarten that 4-year-olds are expected to attend! Will my grandkids be learning how to sound out words & write their names before they are potty-trained?

Anyway, though I am very on-the-fence philosophically about preschool in general, I do think that this particular situation will be the best thing for Caleb. The only problem is, after nine weeks of summer, Caleb has gotten really used to being with me all the time again. And he is starting to exhibit some of the clinginess (to me) and disinterest in his peers that prompted me to enroll him in that 2-mornings-a-week program last fall. He told someone the other day that his favorite part of church was "when Mommy comes to pick me up from my class." Even though I haven't been away from him much at all this summer, he regularly asks me when we are driving somewhere whether or not I am going to stay with him or leave him there. Now, the positive side of this extra closeness is that he has been very considerate of me lately. The other day, I was sitting on the couch and he asked me if he could go get me a blanket because I looked cold. He's also started to imitate the way I talk to him, like this: "Mommy, can you get me a cup of juice? You don't have to if you don't want to, it is your choice, but it would make me happy if you would." Another one I've heard recently is: "Mommy, what movie are we going to watch for movie night tonight? I want to watch Aladdin, but if you want to watch the Ariel movie because it's your favorite, we can watch what you want." It is so sweet to hear him talk like that!

I'm sure the clinginess is just a phase, like everything else, but I hope he moves out of this phase before school starts, because it will be so difficult to send him if he doesn't want to go.