Perceptive
Perceptive, the positive side of "easily distracted".
Six kids in swim class. Virgil was the only one who didn't give the parent their full attention before jumping in the water. Why? Because he was too busy watching the other instructor setting up for her class. On the slide, he wouldn't do it and finally conveyed to me that I was asking him to slide on "Wally" but this was not Wally. He was correct. Normally it's a blue foam whale. This was a green foam hippo of nearly identical dimensions. It didn't stop any of the other children. Melodramatic sigh, perceptive.
It's fun at this age but... I see a possible future and while I love Perry and his endearing thoughtful qualities are many, the rough spots are something I could do without going through a second time.
I may have found a preschool for Virgil. It's a Montessori. They don't really have a 1/2 day program though so its more expensive than the first one we looked at. It was such a contrast to the first one. Quickly I could see they trust the children. A girl was using the hall bathroom by herself, no adults hovering in the hall just in case she made a bee line for the door. I wish a certain religious school showed my 9 year old that much trust :( They expect the kids to peel their own oranges. They aren't afraid of parents in the classrooms.
Oddly one of the things I liked best was how few toys there were. Lots of empty shelf space. The first place had toys everywhere. Virgil went for a story time and it was tough. Kids jumping, sliding, wanting to pull dolls and dress up clothes off the shelf. Wanting to play with the musical instruments. See above, perceptive it was just overwhelming. With just a handful of toys it looks nicer and I think it will be more positive and less issues with kids being told no you can't play with that now. Maybe it will inspire me to declutter and then some. It was so peaceful. Oh and the playground has a really big section of mulch and moveable pavers.
I just have to figure out if I really want to pay more per hour than I pay our sitters. I am tempted to just see if I can pay them monthly and let him hang out at their house. There won't be as many organized arts and crafts but he would be outside more (this school doesn't do cold weather either - no one here does) and have a wider age range, even if fewer kids. We'll look at a few more and see.