Relax, it's not boarding school

We toured a preschool today.

I impulsively called the preschool last week, feeling pretty confident that their enrollment for fall would be closed. The usual application period is in February, and it's a popular school. (A friend of Isaac's was wait-listed last year.) So I was expecting to hear about the waiting list, or about opportunities for mid-year enrollment. Instead the director told me that they had openings in September in their three-year-old class. Perhaps due to my long-term preschool ambivalence, I wasn't sure if I thought this was good news.

Despite being uncertain at the very idea of sending Isaac to preschool, Craig and I went on the tour. We feel sad at the idea of losing two precious mornings with Isaac every week. He would attend Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon. That's six hours a week that could no longer be devoted to hanging out, or pulling weeds, or random playdates. We have a regularly scheduled playgroup on Wednesday mornings, and I work one day a week, but if we drop our Monday morning music class, I guess that still leaves us with three unstructured mornings. (Sure, afternoons are still free, but they're not as cheerful or relaxed as the mornings.)

The preschool turns out to be great. We liked their philosophy, the physical set-up, the staff, the vibe, the location, and Isaac liked their toys. (He actually had a great time there.) The school is a co-op, so there are always four parent volunteers in the classroom along with the five regular teachers, and we like the idea of being closely involved with the school. I glanced at their parent manual, and I approve of their strategies for handling both conflict and praise.

I guess we'll go ahead and fill out the application and submit our nonrefundable $60 application fee. But I keep thinking that we don't have to send Isaac to preschool yet -- we could wait until he turns four, and he would still get one year of preschool (assuming he starts kindergarten the September he turns five). I can't tell if I have garden variety "my baby is growing up too fast" cold feet, and I'll be fine once school actually starts, or if I would really be happier preserving our private and minimally-structured lives for as long as I can.