Is the mini-van included in the registration fee, or do I have to pay for that separately?

We had the boy's first parent/teacher conference week before last.

Who knew they did parent/teacher conferences in preschool?

You know me - if I don't have something to worry about, I don't know what to do with myself. And since they scheduled the conferences about three weeks or so in advance, I was practically beside myself when it was time to actually go in and talk to the teacher. I know... I am off-the-charts neurotic about everything when it comes to having a child - What if the other kids think he's weird? What if she says he's mildly autistic? What if someone snatches him when we're at the park? What if we find out he has some horrible disease? What if he gets hit by a car? Kids are such a crap shoot. He's only 4, but there's so much out there it scares the hell out of me. I was reading a news story online at work yesterday about this choking game that kids are playing, and how more and more deaths are being attributed to it, and I almost threw up. It's a wonder I let him out of the house at all.

Anywhoo...

The conference was good. His teacher is absolutely wonderful; one of those teachers you wish they could have all the way through school. She confirmed that, of course, he's a genius. Before he even started preschool, he recognized the letters of the alphabet and (if he was in the right mood) could count up to 29.

Side note here: You may be asking yourself why 29, because that seems like such an arbitrary number? He gets to 29, pauses to think for a few seconds, then continues on "twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve..." Hey - you've got to give a 3-4 year old credit for using logic like that.

Back to the conference - he needs to practice cutting with scissors, as this is apparently am important skill that develops the muscles and coordination needed to learn how to write. Again, who knew?!? I have reservations about giving anything that can cut to my sometimes-hyper 4-year-old. We sat down to practice the other night with our newly-purchased blunt-tipped scissors, and two minutes in he was asking if he could cut my hair. Need I say more?

But we'll work on it. He's most definitely exhibiting signs of being a lefty (you're welcome, Lori!), which is cool because we all know southpaw pitchers are worth more when it comes to the major league baseball contracts.

The other major area that he needs development in are the socialization skills. This wasn't a shock. He's never been in daycare. There aren't any kids his age in our neighborhood. If he was maybe 7 years older he'd be in luck, although the kids I see running around often look suspicious to me, so I'm not sure I'd let him out of the house with them even if he was the same age. His cousins are older and don't live close, and there are no plans for any brothers and/or sisters... other than church once a week (say 2-3 Sundays a month), preschool is his first real exposure to other kids his age. He's as excited as he can be to be around the kids in his class, but he's awkward when it comes to actually relating to them. He's still trying to get his mind around the concept of using words to talk to them, instead of just going up and hugging or trying to tickle them... here we go... mommy neurosis in overdrive... they're going to think he's weird...

We were talking to the teacher about ways and places to get him around other kids more, when the teacher dropped the dreaded word. Are you ready for it?

Soccer.

"I know the city has a soccer league that plays in the Fall, and I think the YMCA has a league that plays in the Spring."

Sports are inevitable these days, I suppose, and really that's fine. Obviously the exercise is good, and learning how to be part of a team, and all that. Somewhere in the backs of our minds, the husband and I were kind of hoping to avoid organized team sports, as neither one of us is athletic at all, but what can you do?

So, starting mid-April, I will be a soccer mom. Granted, at this age (according to the teacher) it's not so much a group of kids playing soccer as it is a group of kids running up and down the field in a clump. I'm just having trouble getting my head around it. Soccer, if I remember correctly, was just really starting to gain its popularity here when I was in high school in the late 80's, and in college in the early 90's. The soccer players and their families, at least the ones I knew, were... (that dreaded word from the 80's) preppie, which I, most definitely, was not and am still not today. I have no understanding of the game, other than kick the ball down the field into the net-thingy (is there more to it than that?). I have more bad-hair days than good ones. I don't own pearls, and I've never owned an Izod anything. I'm not very good at small-talk, so I tend to be quiet around people I don't know, which I'm sure gives people the impression that I'm either weird or stuck-up.

And the thought of my boy in a little uniform almost breaks my heart, because it means he's growing up, which we all know is really what all this is about.

Oh what an adventure this will be...