My son just turned two and is signed up for a cooperative preschool that starts this week.

He just missed the school cutoff, so he is signed up for the toddler (12-24 month) group even though he's already two. He's the oldest in the class, but there are at least two others within a month of his age. The toddler class meets one morning a week, and I would always be there with him.

I just found out that there are openings in the 2-year-old class and the school is willing to make age exceptions to fill the class. There is a waitlist for the toddler class, so someone would step into our spot if we moved up. The 2-year-old class is two mornings a week - I would work at one, but would be able to drop him off the other day.

I think he would have fun either way, but my gut feeling is that he would get more out of being with the older kids. He likes to play with older kids at the park and at Gymboree. At the preschool open house, the younger kids ignored him and he played with trucks all by himself the whole time.

I emailed the teacher to ask her opinion, but I'm curious what other parents think. What would you decide? Is there a downside I'm not considering?

ETA: This school is play-based, not academic.