Matthew's First Day

All in all I think it was a good day.

Even with Bob home and a 6:30 a.m. alarm, it wasn't exactly the relaxed morning I had hoped it would be.

I now see the merit of the evening bath. In the past, I must admit, I turned my nose at that portion of a nighttime routine. Who has time for that? We always have way more time to kill in the mornings and afternoons. Not so once you enter the world of school. We may need a new checklist for bedtime.
After a bubble bath, a granola bar and some apple juice, Matthew got dressed and ready to go. He excitedly slipped on his red crocs and his new red backpack and jumped onto the porch for some pictures.



Once we arrived at his classroom, he immediately spotted the dinosaur bin at one of the centers. He wanted to play with them RIGHT THEN. We moved him along to answer the Question of the Day: "How do you feel about your first day of Preschool?" The choices were: Happy, Excited, Nervous, or Scared. He was very certain that he was HAPPY. Not excited, not nervous. Happy was the word. Happy is good. My little boy is feeling happy to start school. Which made me happy too.
He was, however, not feeling happy to start the morning with Circle Time. Wouldn't the morning be happier if it began with Dinosaur Time? We reminded him that he had to follow his teacher's schedule for the day and then left him there. He was more concerned about the dinosaurs than our departure.

We left him in the circle, reading a dinosaur book, hoping that he would adjust well.

Bob, Nolan and I played in a strangely quiet house for two hours before it was time to head back.

When his teacher opened the door at 11:30, all the kids came running out to meet their parents. Matthew ran to us with a huge smile on his sweet face. **Relieved sigh** He had a good day.

Details were hard to come by. His favorite part was -- surprise, surprise -- playing at the Dinosaur Center with two blue T-Rexs. That's about all we could get out of him at first. But we soon found a new tactic. Matthew was more forthcoming about Buddy's first day at Preschool. Buddy is the invisible baby T-Rex that sneaked to school in Matthew's backpack.

Apparently Buddy had a great day.

Like Matthew, he also liked playing with the dinosaurs, but didn't like it when another kid kept messing with his dinosaurs, who were pretending to be fossils. And he really liked riding a red bike in the gym. He thought that his teacher was just pretending when she asked them to clean up the toys. She assured them that she wasn't. And she didn't even help, said Buddy -- because, after all, she didn't make the mess.

Smart teacher.

His teacher also read them two books. The first one was called "I Like School." The other one was about how God created the world. Buddy and Matthew practiced writing their ABC's and enjoyed snack time. They also learned Hopscotch and Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?

Reading through the monthly newsletter, I asked Matthew about the virtue they are focusing on this month:

Me: "Did Ms. Lisabeth also teach you about self-control?"

Matthew: "Maybe?" ....convenient memory loss?

We celebrated the day with lunch at Panera Bread, followed by playtime at the mall Play Area. When we got home, we played. We played store and baseball. Matthew was Buddy and I was Ms. Lisabeth.

I think, in Preschool language, that means he enjoyed his day. And likes his new teacher.
Hooray for the first day!