First Day of Preschool

Today was a big day, for two reasons:  first, because Everett went to his new preschool for the first time.  Second because it rained! 

 

Everett’s new preschool is a school run by a lady out of her house (there are no real preschools here like at home), and she uses three rooms inside, plus the front and back yards, as classrooms.  There are five classes for the five classrooms, but they rotate rooms during the school day.  The teacher-student ratio is the same as Everett’s old school, and the day runs from 8:15-11:00 am four days a week.  Everyone here, including dads at work and students at the elementary and middle school, comes home to eat lunch every day, so there’s no lunch at preschool.  This is both good and bad; I like not having to pack the lunch, but it also means Everett does not get to eat lunch with his friends, which I think is important developmentally.  Mike promises me that he did it this way and he turned out fine – true enough.  

We did have a tour of the preschool already, which was good for seeing the rooms, but they were not arranged for preschool at the time; the furniture all gets pushed back to the walls and they bring out preschool chairs and tables, and all the supplies when school is in session.  But we did get to walk through the house and see the back yard.  I hope this made both Everett and me feel better about coming on the first day.

Everett did have some pre-preschool jitters.  We had to drive Daddy to work at 6:45 am because we needed the car to get him there, and on the way home I got a lot of “I don’t WANT to go to school today,” and “It’s SUNDAY, not SATURDAY.  There’s no school today, Mama.”  I asked him if he was anxious about school, and he said “I’m uncertain, Mama.”  So we talked about the new friends he would be making, but also about all the people there he already knows, like he teacher, another one of the teachers there, and a child we had already met on the playground.  

We came home and got dressed, and I knew he would be ok when we got to the shoes.  He asked to wear Crocs to school, and blinked at me when I said yes.  He wasn’t allowed to wear sandals, flip flops, or Crocs to his old school (mostly because of the wood chips getting into shoes on the playground), but there are no restrictions on footwear here.  So he happily put on his Crocs with socks and we headed out, with raincoat and backpack.  

Before leaving the house

Standing outside the new preschool

Going in the door!

He held my hand as we stood in line outside the front door, and then one by one, the students were let in and the moms said goodbye and walked away.  When it got to be our turn, Everett pulled on my hand and said “Come on, Mama.” So I said “I think this is where we say goodbye, Junebug.”  So he let go of my hand, took off his backpack and raincoat and handed them to his teacher, said “Bye bye, Mama” with a kiss and a smile, and disappeared into the house.  SO brave!!  I am so proud of him!  Walking into a new place with all new people all by himself!  It made me so sad, too.  So grown up.  So I am not worried about him this morning; I am the one who needs extra boosting up.  On his first day of 3-day-3s last fall, our teachers at Good Shepherd gave all the moms a first-day kit that had Kleenex, and a bag of tea, and other cute things like a cotton ball to remind moms of their child’s softness, etc.  I needed that kit today!   But I am really glad it went so well for him.  I can’t wait to hear all about it when he gets home.

Four hours later...
By all accounts, Everett had a great day!  He hasn't said too much about what they did or who he met, but he was happy when I picked him up, and both teachers who know him said he did super.  While he was there, Lawrence and I ran errands to the commissary and the mail center (I am getting braver!), so it felt rather like a regular day at home.  That was nice.  Then we picked up Daddy for lunch, and after he went back to work, the boys played and then went down for naps easily.  (See?  I really do have my act together!  At least for one day!)

After preschool.  Lawrence stood outside the school house and shouted "Get Ebett!  Get Ebett!  Go inside! Ebett!  Ebett!" while we waited. 

Happy day.  (Immediately after this photo, Lawrence pushed the "panic" button for the car - which I could not figure out how to get off-  and, thrilled, yelled, BEEP BEEP all the way down the street!!")