Atticus Starts Preschool

I decided earlier this year that I wanted to put Atticus into preschool this fall. Around Bryan/College Station, you have to get kids on the lists early, so in March I paid my fee to secure him a spot. I had gone back and forth deciding whether to do this. Part of me thought "why a I going to be a stay at home mom if I'm going to send my kids to preschool?". The other part of me thought "Atticus needs to learn to be away from me" since we tend to have some separation anxiety when it comes to church or playdates or anything that does not involve family. And, I always wonder if I am teaching him enough or giving him enough variety of things to learn. So, I decided for all of these reasons, 2 days a week at preschool was the way to go. Last Tuesday night, all four of us loaded up and we headed to Sonshine School at A&M Church of Christ for Meet the Teacher Night. I have been talking about preschool and we have been reading a book about preschool and we've really been getting excited and telling him how much fun preschool would be. So, he was very excited when we got there!

But, do you want to know the crazy part? As we were walking down the hallway to his room, amongst tons of other kids and parents and teachers, I got choked up. I had tiny tears, but worse I had lump in my throat that I wasn't sure would go away before I had to say "Hello" to his teacher, Mrs. Meghann. I have no idea where it came from. I have not been sad about sending him to preschool; I have been excited. But, for some reason, my heart and head were not communicating. My head said "no big deal" but my heart said "my little boy is going to preschool....without me!!!" Thankfully, I made it through an introduction to his teacher and we went inside.

I knew that we would be with him in the classroom for 30 minutes and then leave him with his teacher and classmates while we attended a parent meeting for the next 30 minutes. To be honest, I was expecting a meltdown when we left. I was certain he would start to cry and get upset. But, to my surprise, I told him we would be back in a little bit and we walked out the door and he continued to do a puzzle he was working on and just said "ok.". The good part was that there was lots of fun things to do in his room to keep his attention away from his leaving the room: toys, play dough, puzzles, books, colors, and it was decorated so cute and fun for little 3 year olds!

We went to our meeting and then upon returning to the classroom, we find Atticus in his teachers arms bawling! She assured me it had started in the last minute and thinks it was because parents started coming to get kids and he got upset when he didn't see us right away. Otherwise, she said he had done great! So, we calmed him down and gave him hugs and headed home. Thankfully, he told us he wanted to go back to preschool!

Atticus is only attending Tuesdays and Thursdays this year. So, he had to wait a couple of days and then off we went to his first official day of preschool on Thursday. I tried to take some pictures, of course, before we left. He wasn't too interested and was just ready to get to preschool. Oh and I love how he calls it "preschool" instead of school. It makes him sound so grown up to be so specific. Anyways, we got to school, with Grace in tow (Vic was at work) and dropped him off. I went through the whole "lump in my throat" process again but quickly recovered. We dropped off his backpack and lunchbox and he walked right into the room as I snapped one quick picture (apparently, they didn't really want parents lingering to avoid kids tears). I signed him in and left him there for his first day.

It almost happened too quickly for me. It was such a quick exchange giving him over to his sweet teacher, and leaving him to learn about apples, the color red, rectangles, his family and his school (the themes for the month of September). In fact, as much as I was excited to just be with Grace and run errands with only Grace, I was anxiously awaiting to pick him up to hear about his day. Seriously - when did I become such a "parent"?

When I did pick him up, he was being silly and told me he "didn't like preschool" but then after begging for information, I learned that he played with kids named Elliott and Marshall, talked about the color red, ate lunch and went to music. And he wanted to go back again. Otherwise, the answer I got when I asked questions was "nothing" or "I don't know". He also told me that one kid was crying and when I asked him if he helped make the little kid feel better, he said "my teacher, Mrs. Meghann, took care of that". He also told me "a kid named Aubrey hit me in the stomach, but I didn't walk away; I just played with him." Note: I have told him if he gets into situations where someone is being unkind, he needs to walk away and tell someone. I'm assuming the hit was not intentional or a big deal if he went right back to playing with him. But I thought it was funny that he told me that. Oh and some parenting thoughts: 1) I was happy that he remembered what we told him about walking away. and 2) How do you teach handling problems to kids? I want him to walk away and tell someone if necessary, but I don't want him to be a tattletale. Lots of learning to do!

Here are some precious pictures of his first day at school! Also - notice the daily schedule. I love, love, love how many things they get to do each day!

Here are some fun pictures below.

 This the night of "Meet the Teacher". The rest are from the first day of school.