First Day of Pre-K

We were SO nervous to know how Cam was going to react to his new school.  A brand new environment with people he had never been with before.  Before, he had always been "Mr. Stuff" because everyone knew him.  All of his friends seemed to flock to him.  Another new thing for him was going all day, everyday. The most he had ever gone before was for three days only from 9:00-1:00.  So a full five day 7:30-2:30 schedule was going to be a bit more than what he was accustomed to.  Plus he has the disadvantage of having me for a mother.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I had some serious cases of school-itis during my school years, and that's putting it mildly!  It was probably a good thing that I wasn't involved in the morning routine or else some of my genetic ailments may be inadvertently passed on to him.

So, the big day came.  I was checking my phone throughout the day for updates from the dropoff and from my friend Marion who teaches there.  The first update was this cute posed picture before they left the house. 

That smile made me feel so much more relaxed about the day.  Tony reported that when they arrived at school, he dropped him off in the carpool line and Cam didn't hesitate about getting out at all. He even wanted to eat breakfast at school!  (Might I just add that I never in all my years ever ate school breakfast! It's looking good that he didn't inherit too many of my worrisome traits!)   

 I got updates of "AOK" from Marion almost every 30 minutes.  After working with me for three years, she knew I would need that many reassurances! 

The day ticked right on by for me, and I even remember thinking to myself, "This is my smoothest first day yet!"  Maybe it was because most of my attention wasn't on all the things I had to do with my class but on my own little one.  Before I knew it, I had all of mine packed up and ready and we were headed out to get Cam off of the van that shuttled him over to my school. 

Well, the van was a little later than it usually was so I had time to get all of my students on their buses.  Then the van drove up and I hurried over to it.  I had my camera ready to take his picture as he lept off the van to happily greet his mother.  Not exactly as I pictured - My heart sank and my stomach dropped as my little his face was marked with sheer terror and he was snubbing from crying so hard.  This was just too much for him.  I wanted him to experience everything that may have been a little scary for him the first day so that he wouldn't have any reason to be nervous any of the rest of the days.  What was I thinking?  Looking back on it, I was asking a whole lot of such a little fella.  They plucked him out of the security of his class to take him to the van with someone that he had only met once.  Then he had to get in a strange vehicle with this somewhat strange person.  And for all he knew, it was going to take a very long time.   Poor baby!  Maybe just took it too far asking you to do that! 

(Not quite the same grin when I saw him that afternoon). 

So, he hasn't been back on the van yet.  That was what we compromised the next day in order for him to agree to go back!  (He is our negotiator!)  He's been teary at rest time too, but that's nothing out of the ordinary as he usually breaks down for us when it's time to take a nap.  We will conquer these things in time.

His comment after the first day was that it was fun and that it was very long.  He said, "I don't think I'll go back cause it's just too long."  Well, he has been back, and each day seems to get smoother and smoother and we pry a few more details out of him.  He seems to be most impressed with what is for lunch everyday.  We hear about lunch, and we sometimes get an occasional catchy song that was sung throughout the day.

Still can't believe he is an official preschooler!