Marea the Baby Whisperer, and Letting go of Expectations

After spending a long time pacing the house with Evie this morning, who was tired and fussy, I decided that I had to put her down and do a quick shower before our dr. appt.  So I put her in the car seat, took her in the bathroom, and called Marea in and showed her how to gently rock the car seat.  I scrambled into the shower, and watching through the glass, noticed that within a few seconds, Evie was sound asleep.  I peeked my head out and thanked Marea for doing such a great job putting Evie to sleep, and she was so proud of herself.  

Marea and I have started a "Parenting Preschool" class at Coastline Community college.  I was really hesitant about signing up for the class because baby Evie was coming and I was worried juggling the two kids and maintaining a commitment to a class once a week.  However, Kate assured me that it was very laid back and worthwhile and I am so happy that I decided to do it!

The first night before the class I was worried....would Marea do okay?  Would she be able to separate from me for the parent education part?  I really didn't think she would be able to.  Would she be hungry when it wasn't snack time?  Would she have an accident?  What the heck am I going to do when she goes to Kindergarten???  But mostly, I was worried that Marea would not be able separate from me, and although I was assured that this was okay, and that the kids were able to come and sit with their parents, I was still worried.  She's always seems to stay really close to me and is slow to warm up to new things.

I knew right when I walked in the door that I was going to love the class.  The classroom set up was perfect-lots of great things for the children to explore, including a dress up area, many shelves with different activities, art activities, and things for them to climb on.  The outside area has a great sandbox, ride on toys, water play, paints...all kinds of wonderful activities that are changed all the time.  Marea dove right in.  She wasn't hesitant at all, which she usually is in new situations.  She took to the environment right away and really seems to enjoy it!  She especially seems to like the things she can climb on.  She is definitely interested in testing her physical limits these days, spending a lot of time climbing on things.  It's fun for me to watch her explore the room and all the different activities.  She's not too interested in interacting with the other kids yet, but I guess that's pretty common at this age.  I see little bits of that coming more and more these days.  How fun it will be when she's having conversations with other kids!

The most enlightening moment for me was on the first day of class when I went inside for the parent education part and Marea stayed outside the whole time!  She had absolutely no problem separating.  I was expecting her to wander in and want to sit with me, but she didn't.   I was so pleasantly surprised.  It really made me feel good to know that she was perfectly happy, playing and having fun without me.  I guess one of the first things  I can learn from this preschool class is, that Marea will always be a great teacher.   I am learning so much from her every day, and i'm loving every minute of it.