Pre-School and "Extracurricular" Activities for Gavin

It is official now.  Gavin will begin pre-school in August.  We had visited this preschool before we left to Florida and were bummed to hear that they don't have open enrollment throughout the year.  They only open up enrollment ONE day a year, in February, online.  We were able to get Gavin a spot starting in August for Tuesdays and Thursdays in their afternoon shift (12:45pm-4:30pm), which works out better for us than the morning shift.  This will allow us to have a regular morning and give me some time with just Liam.

In the meantime, I wanted Gavin to do some "extra-curricular" activities-- i.e. outside the house and without me-- to get him used to the idea of school.  I know he is school-ready in terms of "academic" skills.  He knows numbers, shapes, colors, alphabet, letter sounds, and can identify letters and sound out simple words.  What he is lacking are the social skills and the "structure" of a class with other children.  So we are trying out Gymboree classes.  I talked to Gavin about the classes they offer and listed them off so he could pick which one(s) he wanted to try and every time he said he wanted art class.  A couple of weeks ago we went to art class for kids 3-5 years old.  The class is parent-optional for those who are 3 or older so I was the only parent in the class.  They told me when Gavin turns 3 I can drop him off but I'm still not ready to do that just yet.  There are five other kids in the class but only one other boy.  The boy's mom was happy to see another boy join the class.  As social and independent as Gavin is at home and in the playground, the first time we walked into the room and he saw the other kids go to the table and start working, he stopped, turned around, walked towards me and held on to my leg.  I said "you can go with the other kids, Gavin.  Go play with them" and he said "I don't know how."  The other kids have been there a while so they just knew what to do and Gavin felt out of place.  But this past week, he was just fine.  He even told me today that he missed his friends from sports class.  Even though he only wanted art class at first, now he loves the sports class more.  This week he told me he didn't want art class, he just wanted sports class.  We are signed up (and paid up) for both so I just ignored him and once he got there and saw the kids at art class he was fine and very engaged in the lesson (Picasso inspired this week).  So far, so good.

Here's a little clip of sports class... Gavin is the one wearing green.  

Gavin is the youngest and the shortest of the class :)