First Day of School!

As I had mentioned before, last week was a big one for Eddie. He got his first haircut and then he started his first day of school!

I should back up a little, because it's not actually school-school.  This summer I was talking with one of my mom friends from the MOMS Club that I belong to.  I was saying that I wish Eddie could go to some sort of  school thing this fall, but the potty training* thing kind of ruled that out. My friend mentioned that her daughter was going to a preschool once a week, and you don't have to be potty trained!  I instantly made her tell me all about it!  As it turns out it's a program at one of the churches in South Minneapolis called Friday Mornings Out.  It was designed to give stay at home mom's a break during the week and it's open for kids ages birth thru pre-K. They go to "school" on Friday mornings from 9 am-12 pm. As a way to keep down the cost for this program you have to volunteer about once a month. The great part about volunteering is that even if you have another child not in the program, you can bring them with you when you volunteer.

I was immediately sold on this and once I received the information, I followed-up. We took a tour and I knew this would be perfect for Eddie.  He is in the 3 year old classroom which starts to have a little bit of structure. Fortunately two of his good friends from playgroup are also in his same class.

He was very excited to start school.  He was bummed that he wouldn't be riding a school bus (he pretends that I am his school bus driver and that our car is the school bus). We picked out a Thomas backpack and lunchbox, which he loves to carry around the house! Leading up to his first day he had asked me if I would be going to school with him too.  I explained that I would be dropping him off, but I would always return to pick him up.

As the first day approached, I started freaking out! I couldn't believe that I suddenly had to worry about sending him to school, worried about him paying attention, making friends, packing his lunch - it was overwhelming me. But instinctively I knew that this was the right thing at the right time. It would be good to have the break and I was looking forward to some one-on-one time with Edith.

He was very excited on his first morning. Here are some pictures before we left for school. I hope in another year he'll be a little bit better about posing for school pictures!

Standing by Daddy

Showing off his Thomas lunchbox - we didn't even bring a lunch the first day!

I asked him to hold it up - so it went in front of his face.

I told him to lower it, and here he is swinging it down.

And now it's back up again.

And then as I tried to get Edith to pose by him, he walked away.

When I dropped him off - he did fine. He made a beeline right for all the cool toys in his room. His teacher was very nice and patient and showed him where to hang his coat and backpack. His other friends showed up quickly and he immediately started fighting over a toy with his friend Emilee. The teacher quickly made her way over to take care of the situation and I decided that was my cue to leave. I was grateful to not have to break up a fight for a change!

Edith and I headed home for a couple of hours. The first day was a shorter one. We played, cleaned, did laundry and started packing for our weekend. She seemed fine without having Eddie around. I think she liked having all the toys to herself.

We got there a little early when we picked him up.  They were outside playing and Eddie seemed to be enjoying himself. When they came inside and going up the stairs to the classroom, Eddie noticed all the parents and looked around.  I waved and he got a huge smile on his face. He didn't really want to leave all the toys in his classroom, but he seemed happy to go home too.  In the car I asked him questions about the morning.  Throughout the rest of the I got other pieces here and there. He was pretty wound up when we got home, which wasn't surprising. I did my best to let him do what he needed to do. I have a feeling this might be a challenging time each week when he gets home.

I'm looking forward to this week's FMO and I am pretty sure he is too. I'm glad we decided to ease him into the school setting. I know that it's good for him to be around other kids and to be away from me for a little bit each week. Somehow this week my little boy seems very grown up! How did this happen so quickly?

*Just to clarify, we haven't even started potty training Eddie. While there has been some interest, up until recently, there haven't been a lot of signs that he is actually ready.  Rather trying to force the issue and make the process long and painful on all of us, we have chosen to wait until we really feel it's the right time.