I don’t really have the words to describe how much I loved my son’s preschool. It was the perfect mix of progressive and unpresuming, with lots of project-based learning but also lots of playtime. We learned A LOT as parents (from’children should always wear underwear’ to ‘no cleats in the classroom!’) and my son definitely did too (I am thankful that we’re not still battling over the underwear). When it was time for him to leave for transitional kindergarten, he was totally ready, but I was a mess.
The preschool he went to is surrounded by sage brush and eucalyptus, and going there definitely had some calming, aromatheraputic effect on me. I’m afraid my son was always picking the aforementioned sage, which would then collect in our house, on the balcony, etc. etc. So one day we decided to infuse some in oil. (And we dried some, and we made some into sachets for his underwear drawer–all of which did seem to finally cure his need to pick lots and lots of it). And then we made some very interesting melt and pour glycerine soaps using our infused oil.
I’m sure the last thing his teachers want is to bathe in a soap that smells like their workplace, but… whatever, we gave them the soap on the last day anyway. And some jam we made earlier in the year (still working on getting the jam right, it turned a strange color), and we wrapped it up furoshiki-style for them. It seems pretty inadequate a thank you– the peace of mind these teachers gave me for two years was a huge gift–but hopefully they know how much they mean to us. (Probably they caught the hint when I cried a river when I picked him up that day.) A big shout out to Mr. Matty, Ms. Patsy and Ms. Anna for the amazing work they do at Mesa Child Development Center. We will miss you!
