Hi Polly, welcome to the board. I understand the hard decision about preschool. Before I ever discovered the term gifted I had talked to a specialist about my DD and gave her a breakdown of milestones and how advanced DD appeared to us. The specialist's advise was on par with what we had talked about in general as important for our children: music, foreign language, etc. One thing she stressed to me was the importance of socialization and starting early. This set the stage for me freaking out about preschool and rushing to sign her up, only to find out that in our area there is a major waiting list. All of this stressed me out. But I put her in a dance class that met once a week for an hour. Just that time and making connections and friendships with the other moms really helped DD with her socialization. Okay, up to a point. I notice that when she is around children her own age she is still a little stand offish and when around older kids she opens up and is more herself but she is miles ahead of her social abilities from before the class. This could also just be the age and she would have naturally been this way without the class. Looking back on the preschool and not starting at age 2, I am actually happy we didn't get in. I spent more time with her and that time is priceless.
She is set to start preschool this fall for 3 days a week and we chose a social program. We will go into it with our eyes open and if it doesn't look to be a good fit than we will look to place her in a more academic program. Right now she is in a Spanish Immersion summer camp which she actually started today. That will run for 3 weeks. She also has a dance camp in the beginning of August. In between the camps we will be traveling to NYC.
And a side note for anyone in the NYC area: the MET has some amazing exhibits over the summer. Including: Bacon, a new Michelangelo painting recently discovered, and Roxy Paine installation on the roof.
