School Days

This past Wednesday was Ethan's first day of his Parent's Day Out pre-preschool. The days leading up to it were filled with anxiety, with both Will and I wondering how Ethan would do when I left him someplace. The night before, I had orientation and when I came home and told Will about it, he really started to panic. He did, though, as requested go out and get Ethan a little backpack, as we were told to bring one with a change of clothes and any emergency items such as a pacifier, blankie, etc. Will came home with a Spiderman backpack big enough for a 6th grader. That's okay - Ethan loves it! When he got up on Wednesday morning and I showed him the backpack, he was so excited. The excitement continued as we pulled up to the church where his classroom resides. We had talked a lot about him going in the days before the start so that there were no surprises, but of course you never really know how much they are understanding. When we got out of the car, Ethan said, "Dadda in there?" which is when I realized he was thinking that we were going to Lyons Township to Will's classroom, where he's been a few times and just loves. I carefully explained that this was not Daddy's school but Ethan's school and his classroom. When we got up to the room, the door was open on top, and Ethan could see all the new toys I had been talking to him about. He immediately yelled, "I want to go in there!" I was a little flustered because I still had to sign in and do a few other check in procedures. He was so anxious to get in, though, that one of the teachers opened the door for him and ushered him in. Apparently, they wash hands right away, and I heard his teacher say, "Okay, Ethan, let's go wash hands." He looked at her like, Who in the world are you? and seemed to panic a little. But he did not cry. I went out in the hallway then and watched on the monitor to see if he was doing okay. For a while I could not locate him but then I finally saw him come into the camera's view and he just went to playing. I stuck around for a little longer and then left.

The first session was only an hour and a half instead of the usual three, so I wasn't sure if I would even leave him that long. Will had left a frantic note on his backpack that morning that said, "Maybe you shouldn't have him in school. He's too young. If you do go, only leave him for a half hour. Yahhhhhhhh." It was somewhat cute how he was freaking out but also made me second guess what I was doing. I put that in the back of my head then and left. I came home to pick up my cell phone, which I had forgotten and wanted in case the school called, and then I came back. I checked in with the cameras again at a quarter to 10, and Ethan seemed perfectly happy, playing away with his buddies (he knows 5 kids in the class from playgroup). I then walked over to the library, checked out a couple of movies, then sauntered over to Starbucks, feeling a bit strange to be walking in town mid-morning sans child. My friend Maureen was there, too, so we sat and chatted with our lattes until it was time to pick the kids up from their first day.

We were a couple minutes late and most of the moms were already there. When I got to the door of the classroom, I was very sad to see that Ethan was softly crying, being comforted by a teacher. I immediately called out his name and he came running toward the door when he saw me. I asked if he had been crying long, and the one teacher said not at all, that he had just started when he saw the other moms come to the door. It was probably then that he realized that I was not there. They said he was really great the whole time. As I walked him out, I asked if he liked school, to which he replied emphatically, "Yea!" I asked what he did, but the only thing I got out of him (and understood) was that he ate Goldfish and drank juice. I had told him he would get to drink juice out of a cup, and I knew he was pretty pumped about that.

All in all, I was really pleased with the first day. I know that just because he was good the first time doesn't mean he'll be fine the next, but I don't anticipate many problems. I'm hoping he will learn a bit more about sharing since lately that can be an issue while playing, and I also am selfishly looking forward to 3 hours to go to the gym, run errands, clean house, or just lounge. It will especially be nice when the baby is born to have one day a week to have some alone time with the baby. So far, I'm really pleased with the program and look forward to hopefully sending Ethan to preschool at the same place next year. My baby's growing up, but it's all fun stuff, I think, and I like being home to share these new steps with him.