I swear he's just not steady on his feet

Poor Sam. He is such a "trial baby." I will readily admit that I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to parenting. I do what I think is best (obviously), but in the end, it has definitely come down to trial-and-error. The errors this week?

1. Falling off the bed = bloody nose (Lesson learned? No more monkeys jumping on the bed.)

2. Falling off a curb = bloody head (Lesson learned? Children cannot be trusted to do what I say, not even for two seconds.)

3. Waiting until "school season" to think about (and act on) signing Sam up for preschool. I don't know why it never occurred to me that parents would sign their kids up any sooner than August (ok, MAYBE late July). But after calling every preschool I deemed acceptable and finding out that they were booked like, AHAHAHA, MONTHS ago, I realized that I could just add it to my list of trial-and-error mom fails. When I was younger, my mom took my siblings and me to Mother's Day Out at a local Methodist church. So that is my vision of normal when it comes to a preschool setting. Being Catholic, I decided to call the Catholic church downtown first to see if they had any openings. I think I could hear the lady snicker on the other end as I explained that my son would be in the 1's class and were there any openings? Nope. They were booked in APRIL. You know, when registration started.

Next up? The Methodists. Booked, but I got on the wait-list. "Something might come available mid-year, maybe." I asked how far down on the wait-list I was. Ninth. Yeah, probably not happening at the Methodist church. (Called three other Methodist churches after that- same answer.)

Moving right along. Episcopalians. They don't even offer a preschool.

Finally, Baptists. I don't know why they are ranked last in my little ill-informed, no-research-done list of church preschools. My mom's family is Baptist and she was a Baptist herself until she converted after marrying my dad, but I just always think about going to church with my Baptist friends when I was younger and how MASSIVE and overwhelming Baptist churches always seemed to me with their mazes of hallways and classrooms. And everyone (over-generalization here) was very touchy-feely, which Sam is most definitely NOT (try to hug him, and you might experience the painful feeling that is your ear-drum shattering). So I just felt kinda "meh" about it. They took care of the issue for me and just never returned my call. I have a feeling that they are booked anyway, judging by their website and "curriculum."

After that, I was all "woe is me!" because I took so long to come around to the idea of preschool, and now that I'm finally on-board with it, I can't even find a place to send my child! Gah!

Enter Aggie. She has many Protestant friends with young kids and I begged her to ask them where they send their kids. She did, and told me about the Presbyterians. Gah! The Presbyterians! How could I have overlooked them in my search-based-solely-on-my-childhood-feelings-about-other-churches-I-may-have-only-visited-once?! I have never been to a Presbyterian church before (I think), but they seem traditional and good and OMG MUST CALL THEM AS SOON AS THE CLOCK STRIKES EIGHT AM! I called and found out that they had two openings left in the 1's class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That was exactly what I wanted for Sam anyway, so I was all SIGN HIM UP! And God bless the Presbyterians!!!

We go for the open house in a couple weeks and that sounds Very Official. Like, we-must-bring-shot-records-and-allergy-lists-and-disposable-diapers-and-possibly-a-backpack official. Not gonna lie, y'all. I'm excited. Excited for Sam to have this structure for two days a week, having activities geared towards his age level, possibly making some new friends. Don't get me wrong, he always has a few playdates a week, but let's be honest. Playdates are for moms, right? (Right?) And I'm excited for ME because hello! One kid!!! For THREE HOURS!!! Errands will be so much faster and easier, and when we're not running errands I can just spend time giving Molly and her cheeks my undivided attention. So now you can all breathe a big collective sigh of relief for me. I will survive. The Presbyterians have come to my aid bearing finger paints and animal crackers and juice.

Side note: Y'all should really go visit Aggie's blog. She is AWESOME in-real-life, and just as hilarious on her blog, which is all design-y and fashionable and pretty. She has two boys that are the same age as Sam and Molly and I honestly wish we lived next-door to them so we could hang out more than once a week. But go make friends with her. Seriously.