So, I’ve not been posting much recently and even when I have, it has really only been photos for The Gallery and Silent Sunday. But I am still here! Real life has just been taking over recently.
This week is the one that I have both been dreading and looking forward to, and now it is here and there is an added complication. (Yes, of course, nothing could be better than a little bit of drama to spice things up…)
Baby O is due to start preschool (or förskola, as it is called in Sweden) on Wednesday. On the one hand, I am looking forward to this on his behalf as he seems so keen to play with other littlies when we’re out and about at the park and with friends. But on the other, he still seems so very little (he turns 13 months on Saturday). But then again, he’s now walking, trying to feed himself (somewhat messily) with a spoon and is beginning to communicate so much more – for example, pointing at what he wants.
And the complication? Well, on Wednesday, he’ll start what they call “inskolning” here, so the first day we’ll both be at the preschool for two hours, then four hours together there on Thursday, then five hours on Friday with some time away from me. The following week he’ll have shorter days again but I’ll be leaving him (although I’ll be “on call” in the neighbourhood, should they need me to come back). I love this approach that they take to settling them in at preschool. However, when we applied for this (private) preschool, we stayed in the queue for our five choices of state-run preschools (although there really is no difference in price between them; you pay the same regardless – very hard for me to get my head around). And now we are only a few queue spots away from a place at one of our top three choices of state-run preschools, starting from August. The biggest advantage of these three is that they are on the route between home and the office, whereas the private preschool is a 25-minute walk out of our way and then a 15-minute bus journey to the office.
I feel quite guilty that we will probably only complete part of the “inskolning” process now in June at the private preschool and then swap to a state-run preschool and restart the process in August. However, I don’t want to turn down the private preschool just yet in case we don’t actually get that place at one of the state-run preschools, as then we would really be in trouble. I am sure that this happens all the time. Everyone I know here who has accepted a place at a private pre-school has remained on the state-run queue “just in case”, but I still feel guilty. And then there is guilt that I feel for potentially putting Baby O through this process twice.
I just hope we find out whether we have a place or not soon!
The post Still here! first appeared on An English Mamma in Stockholm.
