School Days

It's been awhile since I've had the time, energy, or capacity to post. Summer was filled with my personal studies and other adventures, and now I'm gearing up for year 21 in the classroom. However, we've reached a much bigger milestone in our house -- Little Man is officially a preschooler.

Being away all day is nothing new; having been in daycare most of his life, Little Man has had the privilege of so many others besides us loving on him and shaping his early years. Some of those people are still in his life today, a fact for which we are so grateful. This summer he had his first taste of day camp, and though it wasn't so far off from any other daycare experience it also actually was. Watching him stride in and out of the building each day with his backpack (which is adorably almost as big as he is) made him seem so grown up. He still held my hand as we walked across the parking lot, but it was obvious he was ready to tackle the day on his own. Some days he would run out to hug me when I picked him up; other days I got a nonchalant greeting before wanting to know if I'd brought him a snack. He still had moments that reminded me his true age -- on his last day as we went to bring his teacher the card he had made, he suddenly became shy and insisted that I deliver it for him. Overall it was a good experience, but I wasn't sure how that would translate to this next step; as any parent might I had anxiety about how his first day of preschool would go. 

Preschool car line is no joke. We received a reassuring but very clear message from the school that as hard as it might be for us adults, just letting them out of the car and trusting that the staff would keep everyone safe was the best way to go. My boss kindly agreed to let me come in late so that I could ride with Husband and Little Man on the big day. We had had the chance to tour the building and meet his teacher the week before, so Little Man had a level of confidence that he might not have otherwise had; externally I had that as well, but internally I was still melting at the thought of saying goodbye to my guy as he officially started his school career. There was also this strange reminder of how I was suddenly filling a new role. I had been one of those staff members for so long welcoming students and reassuring adults that we would have a safe and fun day, and now I was having to put that same trust in someone else to care for my most important person that others had put in me. I ended up driving so that Husband could sit in the backseat and help with seat belts, which also gave him the advantage of being able to take pictures and videos. As we got closer to the door, Little Man started to cheer and exclaimed,"This is the best day ever!" And just like that, when our time came a teacher opened the door and he bounced out with his backpack and water bottle, ready to tell her all about his new Spider-Man lunch box. In a blink of an eye he was inside that big building and we were driving away.

I was proud of myself for not crying as much as I thought I would. While I realized that we would not hear as much as we had been accustomed to in the past, everything seemed all well and good at the end of the day. While he still hasn't mastered the art of telling us what he has done during the day, food in the lunch box is getting eaten and spare clothes are staying unused and tucked away in his cubby. He seems to be taking on preschool -- as he does everything else -- with flair. 

It's obviously too early to know how the year will go, but we appreciate everyone who has welcomed him warmly and made the transition as smooth as possible. Teachers know that we have certain ages that we work better with than others, and I am the first to admit that I could never do what those early childhood teachers do; thank goodness there are people like them ready to introduce young friends to their school world. Little Man, we hope this year is one where you continue to soak everything in and find a love of learning. We already know that you will grow leaps and bounds, and we can't wait to see what you do next.