Waiting for preschool acceptance letters. What has the world come to?

So remember when Rich and I thought that Allie and Em would be enrolled into preschool after Anna was accepted because they are multiples? Well, about a month after Anna started school, I received a call from one of the teachers asking me when I wanted to set up screening interviews for Emily and Allie.

"Screenings? Do you know that their sister has already started school? Do you know that they are triplets?"

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

She told me that they were already on the roster for September but still needed to come in for screening interviews. I set up the appointments for the latest possible date in hopes that the extra week or two would give Em and Allie enough time to learn what they needed to learn to pass. (Yes, I am being sarcastic.)

I know it sounds like I am going overboard but I really didn't know what we were going to do if the school would only take Anna. I want all three of them to attend the same preschool. For several reasons.

The day of their interviews, I had the brilliant idea of bringing along Anna and Grammy (because I could not manage three three years in three different locations) so that Anna could show her sisters what her classroom looks like. The girls tend to be shy around strangers and I thought that this would make the situation less tense.

The teachers met us in the hall. They had planned to interview them at the same time in different rooms. Allie actually took her teacher's hand and started walking off with her so I had Grammy and Anna follow them and wait outside that classroom while I sat in with Em during her interview as she was a bit more shy.

For the first part of the test, she sorted objects by shape and color. EASY.

The teacher asked her some questions, including her age. The girls usually say that they are anything but three. Four is a common answer. At one point shortly after the question was asked, Em whispered three. YES. The teacher gave it to her. I think it was a coincidence but who knows.

She then gave Em some small blocks to play with and asked her to stack them. She had only given Em eight blocks. Em stacked all of those. I looked over at the testing sheet and for the highest score, she only had to stack seven. EASY. The teacher then asked Em to give her a block. She then asked for another block. EASY. EASY.

Em then had to point to different body parts. EASY. Except she never really clearly identified her thumb.

The teacher showed black and white sketches to Em and she had to tell the teacher what they were of, what actions were going on and identify things by use, such as, "What do we drive? What do we use to cook?" EASY. EASY. EASY.

There was a sheet of paper with a vertical line, horizontal line and a circle drawn across the top. Em had to copy and draw each of them. GREAT JOB, EM. I was so impressed at how she drew so slowly and carefully.

Em had to repeat words after the teacher. She sort of sang them in a whisper but she did it. YES.

The last part of the screening consisted of her taking three heel to toe steps. MMMMMM. CLOSE. Em was a bit distracted looking around the room at all of the wall art. What three year old wouldn't be?

I have to admit that I was having trouble staying in my seat during Em's screening because I knew that she could do everything they were asking. She was just being so shy.

The teacher told me that she had done a great job and asked about which days we preferred for school, etc. I walked out of there confident that there would be no issues with Em's enrollment. We met Allie, Anna and Grammy in the hallway. Allie was carrying her sheet of paper for her drawing test. I saw a horizontal line, a vertical line and a circle. I also so quite a few scribbles. Big scribbles.

Allie's teacher came by to say good-bye so I excitedly asked, "How did she do?" I was expecting an enthusiastic, "She did great," but all I got was, "Well, I still need to tally her scores."

WWWHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT?

My interrogation of Grammy began in the van. "Did you hear any of the questions asked? What was Allie saying? What did the teacher say? Is there a chance she screwed something up?"

When we arrived home, I imitated walking heel to toe and asked Allie to do the same. She spread her legs, planted her feet about a foot apart from each other and took three gigantic steps. "Oh, Allie, It looks like you might be spending some special alone time with Grammy starting in September."

A few days later, I received an envelope in the mail from the preschool. One envelope. I ripped it open to find Em's acceptance letter. Behind it was Allie's. YES. My three little munchkins will all be attending the same preschool starting in September. Rich and I have come to the conclusion that the screenings are just part of their process. Allie and Em are going to be "peer models" so I can understand that the school wanted to ensure that I wasn't making up stuff when I filled out their applications.

Here are pictures of Allie and Em after their screening interviews.