Pre-School Day one Down! We made it

Arlo Before Going to School

Arlo at his desk Arlo at the RugArlo using the sink

Well, today has come and went and my little guy made it through his first day at school. I think this will definately be going down as one of the toughest things I have faced as a mom so far. Hopefully through this parenting journey I can learn to toughen up a bit...and gain some perspective, or I think I might be in trouble!

The morning started with a lot of anxiety and crying for Arlo. He locked himself in a room at one point stating over and over he wasn't going to pre-school. I tried my best to keep positive and calm his nerves, but at certain points my own nerves were getting the best of me and we both were reduced to tears.

By the time we were ready to go, I got him feeling pretty ok about things and took him to get a bagel before (this is always a shur fire way to cheer him up). When we got to school, I took friends advice and tried to make the drop off short and sweet. I walked him in to his classroom, helped him put his bag in his cubby, showed him to his chair where his very kind teacher was waiting, and then I peeled his crying body off of mine and walked out of the door.

I drove to a nearby target parking lot and cried for about 20 minutes, then I called my sister and husband and cried some more. After the cryfest, I got it together enough to go into target and pick my little guy up a car toy (Mader from the movie Cars to be exact) as a reward for his first day.

When I thought it would be safe I headed back to his school and peeped through the viewing window for the last 35 minutes of class. I can't believe what I saw. My boy was doing fine! He was eating his snack and listening very intently to his teachers. A few times he tried to sneak away to play with the toys during rug time, but his teacher lovingly guided him back. He definately was still not having it with the songs but he was doing such a great job with listening and craft time; although he had his red fire engine colored in about 30 seconds and was making another escape with one of the other boys back to the toys.

It was so funny and interesting to watch how he interacted in his new environment. I noticed that the boys in his class seemed to have a much harder time sitting still during rug and craft time than the girls. They seemed to just want to move, Including my guy. He really did great with following directions though, and if he was straying from a certain activity, one kind word from the teacher seemed to get him back on track. I also saw that a lot of the kids at different times were having a hard time with being there. A few broke out into tears asking for their mommy's. Arlo may have been the worst in the beginning, but he was doing great by the end. I was so relieved to see him getting along just fine and before I knew it, He was done and walking out the door with a big smile to greet me!

When we got home I sat him on my lap and we had a little chat about school.

our conversation below;

Mommy: So what did you like best about school?

Arlo: Um, snacks were good. We got those fishes

Mommy: Was there anything you didn't like

Arlo: Yea, they wanted me to carry a flag

Mommy:oh really, during song time?

Arlo: yea

Mommy: Well what did you think about school, do you think you will be ok with going back?

Arlo: I was scared , but then I think I liked it

Mommy: I love you so much and I am so proud of you for going to big boy school. I am sorry that I cried but It was really hard for me to leave.

Arlo: Mom, I just wanted to be with you so much, thats why I cried. But then I was ok

After our chat I gave him his new mader car which he was very happy about and the rest was history! We made it Whew-day one is over and hopefully day two wont be as hard on either of us.