The first

We attended Patrick's very first Back-To-School night at his preschool this evening. We met his teacher, made an art bag, played with some toys, and got our calender and class list. It felt very other-worldly--seeing what day we were assigned to bring snacks and learning about the Scholastic Book Fair. It's that next step of parenthood. He's now Patrick in Miss Lisa's class.

I have no cute outfit picked out for his first day of school. First of all, I'm not even going to be there (sniff) thanks to ACLS training. Plus, Patrick probably wouldn't wear it or change his clothes last minute. We are in a big 10-shirts-a-day phase. And he always asks, "Whose shirt is this Mommy?" It's either Mason's, Isaac's, Jonathan's, or it's from a family member. I make him put them away, which he does. And it's a great way to see what still fits and to weed out what he doesn't like.

His preschool class has seven students with four boys and three girls. I'm hoping the even numbers will balance out the crazy boy energy and the drama girl energy. He'll know two of the girls from church, and I know one of the moms from prenatal yoga!

After months of worry about Patrick's ability to interact appropriately with his peers, I'm starting to relax. We've had loads of very positive experiences lately, and it's been a joy to watch him really play with other kids. As I was sorting through the hand me downs at Jenny A's house, the boys played really great together for the first time. They shared! They jumped on the bed! They took turns! Then he played with a new group of kids at the park that afternoon, jumping right in and joining the pack of boys on the merry go rounds. Yesterday at the zoo we ran into other friends from church. Their boy is so like Patrick, about nine months younger and without the language delays. Such a great kid. They were so happy to see each other, giving hugs and calling out each other's names. They interacted so nicely in the kids area. Not just the parallel play, but playing with each other. It was awesome to talk with the parents and just supervise. Before we really had to coach Patrick and stick very close by. I think he might be turning the corner, and it's so lovely.

But the nicest part of preschool? Two hours, just me and my girl (with an occasional husband thrown into the mix) to hang out, go for walks, and check out lipgloss at Sephora.