Preschool prep

Next week the boys start preschool. Wil will be in pre-K and Sam will have his first day of school (again).

As expected, Wil is excited to get back to school. He loves school. (Let's hope that continues!)

Then there's Sam. Last year was a disaster. He just wasn't ready so we pulled him out after a few weeks. This year, he says he's ready, although he still sometimes looks unsure. He tells me he won't cry and he'll stay at school all day - talk about making my heart break, listening to that! He is a year older and more independent than last year.

But Sam is nowhere near as independent as Wil. My boys are different in so many ways, not least of which is that Wil has always been sure of himself, not needing me nearly as much as Sam does. Even as a baby, Wil would push me away from playing with him because I was doing it wrong. He wanted to create his own little world. Sam, on the other hand, has always been much more dependent. Maybe it's because he has always had Wil to play with. Maybe it's just his personality. Sam has lots of brovado, but he's not good at being on his own.

We've been working on preparing Sam for preschool. This summer we've been reading books and watching shows that show how fun school can be. On heavy rotation right now are "Llama Llama Misses Mama", "The Night Before Preschool", and "The Kissing Hand" for books. We also found "Leapfrog: Let's Go to School!" on Netflix.

"Llama Llama Misses Mama" is nice because it let's him know it's ok to miss me, but I'll come back. He can miss Mommy and still enjoy his time at school. He has really gotten into "The Kissing Hand", making me kiss his hand and kissing mine in return when we read it. I think we may have to use that, at least at the beginning, to reassure him.

Generally, he likes all of these because the kids aren't always sure they will like school, but they always end up having fun. I just hope next week he remembers that second part and has a good time at school.