The First Day of Pre-School

It's been nearly a month since I've updated what's going on (unless you're reading this after I've caught up and filled in all the missed posts, then just continue on as if nothing had been missing...), but today was a BIG day in Salvateenie history:  THE FIRST DAY OF PRE-SCHOOL!

It wasn't the kids' first time there, obviously.  They went way back in February for an Open House, then again in June for a visit to see how they'd do with the separation of being left at school, and again on Saturday for Orientation, so it was a familiar place with some familiar faces.

On Saturday, the kids spent about an hour in the classroom going from activity to activity in very Montessori-like style and they generally followed this pattern:  First, Caroline would find something that interested her.  A few minutes later, Daniel would look around, ask, "Where Carewine?", find her, and run off to join in with her.  And a bit after that, Max would look at me and invite me to play with something he found.  It could be that Max is a wee bit clingier than the other two, or perhaps he's just more concerned about me feeling left out.  They then asked permission to go outside and conquer the play structure and find a basketball to shoot some hoops.

Caroline learning to stack the blocks from biggest to littlest (with an assist from Daniel)

Max is figuring out where all the instruments go!

Max and Daniel are restless bean counters.

Caroline says, "Now that's what I call a lock box!" as she practices opening latches.

When Caroline didn't want to share her lock box, Daniel opted for some REAL locks to practice with.

And Max was determined to master those beans!

At orientation, they met some of their new classmates and seemed to really hit it off with a little girl named Vivian.  Caroline talked about her quite a bit when we got home, along with all the fun things she was going to get to do at school.

On Sunday night we prepared for school by letting everyone pick out their first day outfits.  Caroline opted for a new dress and pink tights, Max went with a cool all-gray outfit of sweats and Thomas t-shirt, and Daniel, not surprisingly, insisted on wearing the same royal blue Thomas t-shirt he wore Saturday (and that he would wear every day if allowed).  We also practiced opening and closing our lunchboxes and the little containers that go inside of them.

At bedtime everyone was hyper and I worried they wouldn't sleep, but ten minutes after lights out there was silence from the room.  Monday, not knowing how long it would take to get everyone ready, we woke the kids at 7am.  There's a dimmer on their light, so we raised it slowly and let them "wake up" naturally.  From my spot at the door, I could only see Max as he jerked awake a little bit, started to protest that it was too early, then looked at me and said, "SCHOOL! Mommy! We go to SCHOOL!"

Breakfast was a blur of chatter (and very little eating) and nobody protested getting dressed at all.

Can these little goofballs really be old enough for school already???

Caroline wanted her pretty outfit chronicled.

Daniel insisted he needed to put on his jacket, but Caroline said soberly that she needed help hanging it up at school.  Before we left, everyone got to grab his or her own lunchbox.

Three lunch boxes just waiting for their kids.

Caroline pointed out that they didn't need to take their toys to the car because they had lunch boxes, because they were "big kids now".  

They walked down the stairs bubbling with enthusiasm and we tried to get them to group together for a first day picture on the stairs.  At first I thought they'd all stand, but Max was too excited, wandering around, looking at his "cartoon" lunch box (he has an Iron Man lunch box and he knows his superheroes from watching cartoons with Uncle).

Max finally sat down, but he's still checking out that Iron Man!

Now we've got both boys smiling, but Caroline is checking out her Hello Kitty!

There was no fighting getting into the car seats and actually  the only grumbling we heard at all on the way to school came when Caroline dropped her precious lunch box on the floor.

We were the second car into the parking lot, pulling in right next to Vivian's family.  As we both unloaded to walk over to the door, I heard Vivian's dad ask her mom, "You doing ok?" and mom respond, "Yeah, I won't cry until we actually say good bye."  I remember thinking, "How cute - but I'm not that crying mom type." (hint - foreshadowing...)

When we got to the gate, the teachers were just finishing getting ready for us so it was still locked.  This confused Daniel, who kept trying the handle, looking at me, and asking me to "Open it, Mommy! Wet us IN!"

As soon as that door opened, Daniel was off and running.

Caroline strolled in at a more leisurely pace and max kept hold of Daddy's hand to make sure he didn't get lost.

The kids were told to line up their lunch boxes on the bench so they could pick them up when it was time to go inside.  I stopped to write a note on the little check-in board and to sign the kids in as 'dropped off'.

Caroline's pointing out which lunch is hers.

And then, just like that, the teacher was asking them to pick up their lunches to head inside.  I leaned over to kiss one of the kids on the top of the head to say good bye and for absolutely no reason I could fathom, my eyes started watering up.  I moved on to the next one for a kiss on the temple, and then the third, and I was full-on lump-in-my-throat crying.  And I kind of couldn't believe it, that I was "that mom" who cried dropping her kids off for the first day of school.

But there they were, so big and excited and moving off to learn to be independent.  Maybe that's why it made me feel just a tiny bit better when Max turned around to look for us and cried for me as the teacher calmly reminded him that we'd be coming back later, just like the last time.  By the time we made it to the gate, I think he'd forgotten he'd even been crying.

The rest of the day I've spent trying not to think about what they're doing, then glancing at my watch and wondering, "Hmmm...11:30, do they eat lunch now, or at noon?  Oh, I hope they remember their hot dogs are in the bottom of their lunch boxes..." or "Oh, it's nap time now.  I hope they're not too sad that I forgot their blankets.  I hope they rest..." or now, at 2:05, wondering how much longer I can sit here before we jump back in the car to go pick them up.

I have a whole new respect for that crop of parents I was stuck in Target with last week, shopping with their teenaged children to equip their college dorm rooms.  Wow.

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Addendum:

When we walked into the playground area to pick the kids up after school, Caroline was standing by the benches.  She saw me and pointed, calling out, "That one's MY mommy!"  We walked over to her to sign out and make sure everyone had their jackets and lunch boxes.  The boys started opening their lunch boxes and taking things out, but somehow we made it to the car, where Daniel proceeded to snack on his leftovers for the whole ride home.

Once we got home, we tried to ask them what they'd done at school that first day.  But the answers, it seemed, were all about lunch.  Some sample information I learned - They had lunch boxes!  They opened their own lunch boxes.  They sat at the table for lunch.  They had white napkins to wipe their faces.  There was an apple in the lunch box! They ate all their hot dogs.  They drank milk out of cups.  Daniel spilled a little.

And then they proceeded to eat all of the food left over in their lunch boxes and beg for additional hot dogs.

So, I guess at the very least lunch was a success.