Welcome, Polly. I am venturing into this Preschool adventure, too. DD3.5 will be starting this fall. I only work outside the home 2 days a week and when I do work, she goes to her grandma's, so social interactions have been few and far between for her. I live in a rural area myself, but I am lucky to have found a school that individualizes learning plans for each child. So since DD can read, she won't be sitting in a normal pre-k class learning her ABC's which would make her terribly bored.
Socially, I have gotten DD out and about more lately. We go to the park a lot and we're just wrapping up on soccer. The soccer has been great -- not only is she interacting with other kids around her age, but she's also learned to listen and take direction from another adult besides her parents.
I tend to think that at 2-yrs-old, most kids are really learning how to fight, pull, grab and be nasty to each other -- especially in an environment with lazy teachers. Not that all kids are like this, but I'd be worried about how my DD would have taken this at 2. I think DD would have learned a lot of bad habits and that would not have been worth it for the social interaction. Kids at 2 aren't very social with one another anyway -- they play near each other but not necessarily together.
IMOP, I think waiting to 3 is fine to start pre-k. The social interactions of 3-yr-olds is much more sophisticated than those of a 2-yr-old, so I'm not really sure it's worth it.
I'd take other people's advice about starting up your own playgroup, striking up conversations with other moms at the park, zoo or library.
