A day that has always seemed so far off has now come and gone. Yes, I must admit a few tears were shed...only they were all shed by mama! Ashton and Ayden have both been pretty excited, or at least curious, about school. We visited their new school to check out the playground a week before school started so that they would feel a little more comfortable navigating it alone. (This is part of their vision condition.) We got lucky enough to catch their teacher on this day as well. The next day was the Open House/Meet the Teacher night and the 5 of us attended as a family. This alone was emotional for me. Partly because it is another "first" and partly because it hits so close to home for me being a pre K teacher (and loving it!) before they were born. It was exciting to learn all about their new school, talk with their teacher and meet some of the kids in their class.
The next Monday we had to get up WAY too early to get us all around! ;-) Before leaving we gave the boys each a gift to open and attempted to get a few pictures...
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| I tried to dress them a little different for the first week of school in case there where any of those people who can't seem to tell the two apart! |
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| Maybe next year we will actually get a decent picture... |
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| Such a ham! |
Once at school, the parents were allowed to stay in the classroom for the first 45 minutes and then were invited to the multipurpose room for a snack and informal dicussion with the director. The boys did great in their classroom, although a little quiet and timid. They both told us good bye without any tears. By the time I went to the multipurpose room and then stayed to watch a 20 minute volunteer video it seemed pointless to go home. I checked on the boys who were now playing on the playground and decided I would take Jeffrey and go home. We were home for about 40 minutes and it was eerily quiet! Jeffrey fell asleep in the car seat on the way home and continued to sleep until about 15 minutes before we left. I then fed and changed him and we headed back to the school. I had every intention of going inside to get them from their classroom but, when I got there all the other parents where in the pick up line. I got a knot in my throat - torn between being "that mom" and wanting to be there for my "babies". Alas, some sort of magnetic force took control of my steering wheel and pulled into the pick up line! I was a little early and had to wait for awhile. It was a long wait because I was so excited to see them and hear about their morning and now I was stuck in the line with no way out! I finally made it to the front and my boys were brought out to the mini van. As Ayden climbed in I saw a tear on his cheek. I guess he was a little worried when some stranger (a staff member) was walking him outside! In the end they had a great day and told me all about what they had done. I know for my experience being a pre school teacher that this is rare because a lot of kids don't tell their parents anymore about school than that they "played".
School has continued to go great! We are now in the 4th week and they have yet to cry or refuse to go! The only problem we have had is that they both got sick the second week of school. I knew it would happen since they have never been around so many children/germs. They continue to tell me about the songs they sing, books they read, activities they do, who stayed home from school, teachers/staff they meet, and friends they have. They are a little slow about warming up enough to really talk to their teachers yet though. They are apparently getting by on one or two words answers for now. I know they are slow to warm up and they will be talking the ears off of their teachers in no time! For now they are making up for that lack of talking in the mornings by talking NON STOP in the afternoons! :)
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| Ayden with his new teacher, Mrs. Cindy |
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| Jeffrey and I got to participate in circle time too! |
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| Ashton and his teacher "checking in" for the day |
You would think with this new "free time" I have I could have blogged about this before now...But, the time really is minimal and I have SO much to do. I do hope to get a schedule going soon and blog more regularly. I do have lots of other updates and exciting news and I hope to get to those in the next few days so stay tuned!
