Monday, February 14, 2011

I'm the Loser Preschool Mom. You know, the one the other moms talk about.

So, first let me say something. This is my first go-around. This is my first child experience. My first being-a-preschool-mom experience. There is no rule book for people like me. People like me whose school-age mommy instincts might be a little off. I never had friends with kids and my sister didn't have kids. I've had no one to learn from.

And before I had my boys, all I worried about on Valentine's Day was where my boyfriend/husband and I were going to go for the big romantic evening. What was I going to wear? Should I buy a new dress? What was he going to get me? Was I going to be disappointed? Was it going to be romantic? What was I going to order at the restaurant? How should I fix my hair?

Now, with kids, I haven't even showered, I don't care what I am wearing, and my husband and I don't care where we eat, as long as we get to get out of the house for a couple of hours, kid-free, and eat something that I didn't cook.

So, keeping this in mind, it might be understandable that I can be the loser preschool mom. I sometimes don't know the rules to being a preschool mommy. Or I might forget the rules that I have learned from watching TV. Ahem.

So, here is my confession. I didn't know the rules of preschool today. You know, the unspoken rule about getting Valentines for the kids in your son's preschool class. Yeah, I missed that one.

When I picked my son up from preschool today, he had a little bag with his name on it, full of Valentines and candy from his classmates. I was mortified. I guess I thought kids only gave out Valentines in elementary school. I didn't realize it applied to 1-2 years olds, as well. My son doesn't even know what a Valentine is. To him, it is just a piece of paper to shred.

I feel awful. My kid is the weird one whose parents didn't splurge for Valentines for everyone. And it isn't like there are a ton of kids in his class so maybe no one will notice. Oh no, there are only 7 kids in his class. You can't help but notice it.

Well, all I can say is that I will know better from now on. And here is a warning to all you new parents who might not have had kids until later in life and have 8 million other things to worry about besides dinosaur Valentines: make the dinosaur Valentines eight million and one. They apparently gotta be done. Whether the kids know what they are or not.

On a lighter note, here is a picture of my 2 yr old on his first Valentine's Day, 2 years ago - he was five months old:


And here is a picture of Harry - today is his first Valentine's Day and he is also five months old!



I can't believe that Harry will start eating solid foods in just a few weeks. The last five and a half months have gone by so quickly! Max was already sitting up by himself by this age, so we put him in his highchair. Harry cannot sit up by himself yet. He doesn't even support himself with his arms. He just falls right over! Not sure how we are going to get him to sit up so we can feed him. He falls over in his Bumbo too! He still has trouble holding up his big ole' head. We will figure out something...

maybe put him in his highchair and stuff a bunch of blankets all around him? How can we keep his head from falling over? These are the questions I ask now on this Valentine's Day. New adventures!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

10 comments:

  1. What cute little valentine's you have! The boys are adorable!

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  2. Sorry. I would have warned you if I had known about Valentines in preschool. But...you never went to preschool, so I didn't know either. Don't worry about it. No one will remember in a week. The preschool should have told you, if that is their usual process. I'm sure Max had fun regardless.

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  3. Funny - I was that parent too!!!! Still am...

    Happy V-day

    Kelly
    I've Become My Mother

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  4. Happy Valentine's Day! My son didn't want to make valentine's cards for everyone in his class, he only had one picture in mind and it was for ONE of his teachers. I did not feel like making a whole mess of valentine's myself so I just gave her the one he made. they were so happy wih the little story he had to go along with it and the fact that HE made it, they didn't seem to notice the lack of other valentine's for anyone else! whew!
    PRESSURE!

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  5. They really needed to send a note home about that. A first timer would never know that! I'm sorry that you were put in that position. :(

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  6. Totally agree about the note thing. I wouldn't have known to do it if my daughter's daycare didn't send home a note. Yup...the one year olds exchanged Valentine's!

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  7. Cute pictures!!
    I was totally that mom too. My son is in 1st grade now, and we still never get it together to do valentine's. It does peter off as they get older though .... But one girl in his class gave everyone Valentine's Day cards....
    Don't worry, your son will never remember it!

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  8. My mom's words to me....I did it to you and you lived.

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  9. Okay, I didn't know about this when I had kids in daycare and preschool, but the teachers let us know about the practice, so don't blame yourself, (and I can't believe I'm saying this, Janie B. don't be mad at me)blame the teacher. UGH! That hurt-LOL!

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  10. Oh too cute! Don't worry your kid will graduate from college and he probably won't even know any of these kids then! As the mother of 8 I can honestly say I am real tired now that I am at the end of the "moheekins". The last three are all 5 years old. I let the teachers know at the beginning of the year that it isn't that I don't care, but I will leave being room mother up to the super moms and the over acheiver moms. I want to come in once a week and do book in a bag, so my children know that I am interested in school and it is important. Beyond that homework and reading to them is my job. I am not interested in keeping up with the Jones's or in what the other mom's think of me. It didn't get me anywhere when I thought it was important. So relax! You are doing a great job. :}

    Blessings,
    Shelley

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