Over the past 6 months or so, Henry was having a tougher and tougher time with school (as we call his and Owen's daycare). He would cry days in advance that he didn't want to go and that his tummy hurt on the days he was at school. He would even spend part of his days crying there. Owen was doing great there, and we love that place and know how much they love our boys, so we weren't sure what was going on. After much debate, research and many talks with Henry, we decided it might be time for a change. Although he couldn't verbalize what was wrong, we came to the conclusion that there just weren't enough kids his age there. So after visiting a few schools, we found one that seemed like the perfect fit. When we visited, he jumped right in and started playing with the other kids. And so we enrolled him in his new preschool, with a class full of 4 year olds!
And today was Henry's first day! He has been talking nonstop about his new school over the last month and seemed really excited. He particularly was excited about this neat contraption they had built with clear pipes along the ceiling where you drop little balls into them and watch them make their way across the room and drop down onto blocks and bells on the other side. Henry was enamored with it. And I was worried that he may not understand that it wasn't like the Children's Museum, but that it was actually a school that he would be at all day, with classmates and follow directions. and so I've been stressing out about his first day (all the while talking it up to him about how excited I was, of course).
And so Daddy dropped Owen off at school while Henry and I got ready. Then Daddy, Henry and I went together to Henry's new school! We walked in the front door and were greeted by his new teachers. Nate and I looked nervously around the room, trying to figure out the routine. Meanwhile, Henry's ears perked up at the sound of the balls running through the tubes in the adjacent room. And that was all she wrote. Off he ran to play with them, barely slowing down to say goodbye to us. And Nate and I just awkwardly turned and walked out, not quite prepared for such an anti-climatic drop-off. I then proceeded to spend the next few hours trying not to cry about my baby in a new place. It is so hard to trust someone new to be with your kids all day, and this is just not something I've had to worry about since I first dropped Henry off at his prior daycare 4 years ago.
All day I was thinking about his day, obsessively checking Facebook to see if they were posting any pictures. Apparently they were spending time with the children, and not, in fact feeding into my need for constant updates.
After watching the clock until it was an acceptable time to pick him up, I headed over there. I peeked through the windows and saw him playing with a friend. I opened the door, anxious to hear all about it. He looked at me, ran towards the other room and said, "I don't want to go home!". I guess it was a good day! I was able to get him out to the car by telling him that he'd get to come back tomorrow.
We talked about what he ate for lunch (peanut butter & honey sandwich - he got to choose), that he got to play with the balls a lot and that he didn't have to sleep when some of the other kids had to nap. He got to play games quietly in the other room with some of the other kids. And then he proclaimed, "See Mommy? I told you I needed a new school. I was right. I didn't even cry at all today!" Let's hope this excitement keeps up for the rest of the year!
And with all that, here are some first day of school pictures of the boys!
Henry's 1st day pictures
I was quite excited about remembering the chalkboard sign the night before and had it carefully written out to take pictures. After dropping him off and watching all the 1st day posts pop up on my Facebook newsfeed, I realized that apparently I should have written 1st day of Pre-K, not preschool. I guess I have a lot to learn about this whole preschool thing! I cannot even believe he will be holding up a sign with 1st day of kindergarten on it in a year! And let's just pretend it says "Pre-K" in these pictures.
Owen's 1st day pictures
"Oh no! Tomatoes wet!" - He was quite concerned about the rain ruining his tomatoes!
It only seemed fair that he have a chalkboard announcement too, but it was a bit wordier since he was just there about a week ago before our Sunriver trip!
I'm so happy that both boys had such a great day at school. I was worried about how Owen would do without his big brother by his side, but he had a really good day too. It helped that a bunch of new friends just started today at his school!
