Bigger Every Day

How many time have you heard 'they grow up so fast"?
I wish it was a myth!

Today JoJo and I had to pick up my niece at our local community college and I passed their new state of the art "Child Development Center". It looked so nice and welcoming that we decided to have a stop. The first thing I noticed was that upon entering the office there was a very large glass door leading to where the children were that had a digital number pad where a code was required to enter......hhhmm impressive.
Next JoJo and I found ourselves on a guided tour of the facility by their director.
Did I mention I had decided long ago that JoJo wouldnt go to pre-school until he was 4, almost 5 and he was going to a co-op in a neighboring city yet this one was within 5 minutes of our home.
Anyhow this place has a garden where the kids learn to grow veggies, a compost bin and a recycle center. The teachers have actual credentials (unlike daycares and most pre-schools), and is the only local center accredited by the State of California.
Did I mention its cheaper then the co-op and dosnt require the kids to go all week, you can pick how much time you want them to spend there.
Next we saw the art room where the kids had helped build a large paper mache volcano that exploded......the kind I didnt make until I was in 5th grade, LOL.
 The director then pointed to a large screen that the teachers hook there Ipads up to......??? Apparently if a bug, new flower, bird, or squirrel or anything interesting catches the attention of a child the teacher takes a picture of it, hooks it up to the monitor and then goes online to have a improptu lesson about it!!!!!!!

They hide treasure in the sandbox for kids to find  and have bird feeders for the squirrels and birds to feed off of outside of the classroom windows for the kids to watch.

Did I mention they have a huge wall of two way mirrors for the parents to observe their children without interrupting?

Aside from all of the above, JoJo was IN LOVE! He dove right in, could care less if I came or went and talked about it the whole way home. When his Dad came home he told him all about it calling it "my new school".
Did I mention 3....yes THREE moms came up to me to introduce themselves and tell me what a great school it was and how their child were progressing. One child even cries when she comes to pick him up.

My baby is growing up. I've gotten teary eyed twice today just thinking about how I hadnt noticed how ready he is to branch out and learn more. On one hand I am so proud of him, on the other hand I know this is the beginning of a new era for us as a family that will lead to full school days, sleepovers, and GASP.....girlfriends!

They start anew in January and typically don't take kids until they are 3, (he turns 3 in February) but they said they would be delighted.....DELIGHTED to have him a month earlier then his birthday! The decision was pretty much made for me. They way they interacted with him was amazing and slapped me in the face telling me " your kid needs more stimulation then you are giving him".
I'm sad......I'm proud.....proud of his confidence.

He'll be starting in January........but he'll only be going two days a week to start.
Ha ha ha ha! Mama still has some say in the matter!