1st Day of Preschool

These happy 1st day of school pictures were taken after school.


Cars that change colors were our special treat for surviving the 1st day. This is Ramone. He changes from yellow to red depending on the temperature of the water.

Jonathan has Lightning McQueen, who changes from turquoise to green.

Our water bill went up a bit this day thanks to all the color changing.

Andrew had his first day of preschool last Wednesday. It was a rather traumatic day for all parties involved. And while he was excited about the idea of school, he doesn't deal well with change. We went to meet the teacher on Monday. It took us two trips to get him in the classroom. I went in the morning and had a lovely chat with the teacher, while Andrew stayed in the hall "hiding against the wall." Jonathan was thrilled to be there and checked out all the cool stations they had set up. He is ready for school and kept asking me where his class was. Sorry, no class for 2 year olds.

Mrs. B. went in the hall several times to talk to Andrew and try to coax him into the room to no avail. It was supposed to be a 15-minute meet and greet. We were there for an hour before I gave up. We went home with a new plan to go to the evening session of Meet the Teacher with Keith. That worked much better as Keith has the physical strength that I currently lack to get Andrew into the classroom. He was very happy to look at everything and talk briefly with the teacher as long as Daddy was by his side. And when we left, he said he was excited to come back on Wednesday.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. We were on a roll until I got his shoes on - double-knotted. Suddenly he realized we were really going to school, and he FREAKED out! Shoes and socks that took me 5 minutes to put on, were off in less than 2 seconds. And did I mention they were double-knotted?! Then the screaming started. "I'm scared. I don't want to go! I don't know anyone." Up until this point, we were running ahead of schedule. I quickly realized that instead of getting to school early to settle in, we would get there very late.

I called Keith at work, hoping he could talk some sense into Andrew. But Andrew refused to talk to him. And with Keith 30 minutes away, he wasn't going to help us get to school anywhere near on time. So, I went the desperate route and told Jonathan to come with me and that we were leaving. I grabbed Andrew's backpack and a pair of sandals. I wasn't messing with sneakers and socks again and headed to the garage with Jonathan in tow. This freaked Andrew out. He has an irrational fear of me leaving him at home alone, which by the way, I have never done and never will do, but this fear worked in my favor.

He followed me, screaming the whole way and actually got in the car. I buckled Jonathan, and then buckled Andrew. A futile effort as he immediately unbuckled himself and tried to get out of the car. Thank God for child-safety locks. He couldn't open his door. I started the car and started backing out, only to have Andrew jump in the front seat. He told me he was trying to turn off the car and thankfully he didn't know how. Do you see the level of fear and anxiety I was dealing with?! I knew I had to get us out of the garage and driveway, so I kept going with him practically sitting on my lap. Fortunately, I didn't hit the garage as I was trying to back out, and I did manage to get us down the street. By the end of our street, he was back in his seat, screaming at me to buckle him. So, I pulled over and buckled him and explained he needed to stay in his seat and stay buckled or Mommy would go to jail.

We proceeded to school, with Andrew screaming and crying, Jonathan quiet as a mouse, and me trying to pray louder than the screaming. It was a long 3 miles to school. In the school parking lot, there was a police car. That distracted us for a minute. At first I wasn't nice and told him the police were there because they heard the screaming. I realized I wasn't helping the fear, and quickly changed it to maybe it was a mommy or daddy bringing their little boy or girl to his school. Or maybe a special presentation with a police dog. Curiosity got the better of him, and we got shoes on and out of the car.

Once inside, Mrs. B, came to the rescue. We were at this point 10-15 minutes late, and she was looking for us. She sent me to sign some papers and took over with Andrew. One of the hardest things I've ever done is leave my sad, scared boy sitting under his backpack hook looking at me with those eyes. I gave him a digital watch and promised I'd be back at 11:30 and that I loved him and then I walked away and fell apart. The poor secretary didn't know what to do with this basket-case pregnant mother. I signed whatever it was she gave me and went looking for a bathroom to pull it together. By the time I regained composure, Andrew was in the classroom with Mrs. B. and Mrs. W. and the secretary told me he was talking to them and there was no screaming. VICTORY!

Jonathan and I escaped and went in search of some retail therapy at Target. I treated myself to a frozen coffee and Jonathan asked for a lollipop. Then we found some cool color-changing Cars as a reward for surviving Day 1. Then we went back to pick up Andrew and found he had indeed survived, as had his teachers and was excited to go back on Friday. I was told he did well, but the watch had to go. Turns out he's a little Nazi clock-watcher and the teachers didn't need his help with their schedule.

Friday was a breeze. Only he told Mrs. B. he didn't know his shapes and that he couldn't use scissors. She had to manipulate him to cooperate. This could be a long school year if I get a 10-minute report at the end of each day. But at least the screaming has stopped and the fear seems to be gone! This is a new week with many new adventures waiting for us.