First Day of Preschool

Owen has been more than ready for preschool for a while now. We were waiting for him to be potty trained, turn three, and adjust to Emily as part of our family. Now that those bases have been covered, he's ready! We also had a tough decision on where to send him. There are SO many preschools in this town, it's hard to know which one will be perfect for him, and us.

St. Andrew's was actually the first school we saw months ago when we started looking. We really liked it, and liked the idea that it's a co-op which allows us to work once a week in the classroom. We checked it out again a few weeks ago and we couldn't get Owen to leave, he was having so much fun. So that's where we decided to stay. He is going three days a week.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. They have two adorable boys, Gabriel and Grayson. Gabriel will be 5 next week and is in kindergarten already. I think he was able to ease Owen into knowing that school will be fun (as Owen was having a lot of apprehension and fear of starting). Owen needed that extra boost of confidence.

This morning we had to wake him up at 7:30 and get things rolling! He resisted getting dressed until he gave in and insisted on leaving the house in his fleece pajamas UNDER his jeans and sweatshirt zipped up! It was the only way to get him out of the house, so we said "OK, but let's change when we get there." He agreed (yet did not follow through when we arrived). By the way, it was 110 degrees today, I am not exaggerating! Thankfully a teacher convinced him to change before it got to that temperature!
I have a friend whose adorable son, Connor, attends this school as well. He got to hang out with him in the sandbox when he arrived, which probably helped ease his nerves also.Emily was his cheerleader! She likes the school just as much. She has fun watching all the kids play.When it was time for us to leave him there, he was more than OK with it. No kisses or hugs, just a "bye" while he continued to play with his blocks and plastic animals. I was so happy it was an easy transition. I was grinning the whole way home and looking forward to a quiet house and time to get things done uninterrupted before I had to go to work. However, when I came home and I saw his breakfast plate still sitting on the table looking so lonely, I felt sad and missed him terribly.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to pick him up because I was still working, but Adam, Emily and Nana went to get him. He looked at everyone with big smiles and then said "where is Mommy?" So bummed I couldn't have been there. :( The director, Cindy told Adam that he had a great day, and the only sad part was when he started crying about 1/2 an hour after we left because he missed us. Heart break. She told him we would be there after lunch and showed him all the fun stuff they were going to do before lunch and he was fine. Little did he know I was thinking of him all day and missed him too!

When I got home, I got lots of hugs that melted right into me. He told me he "cried at school because he wanted to see me." I love that kid.

He still likes to be a "baby" when he is need of some attention (this is all Emily's fault ; ). Here is Owen trying to squeeze into her car seat on the couch when I got home. It's crazy that he used to fit in there just as snug as Emily is now.