first week of (pre)school

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so we finished nathan's first week of preschool. it was a rough go. we decided to put him in for two mornings a week just so that he could have a structured activity and, more importantly, get used to a classroom setting so that the transition to JK next fall would be a bit easier. it also gives me a bit of a break especially with the baby coming. we started preparing nathan for preschool by talking about going to school and how he'd meet new friends and learn lots from the teachers. he seemed okay with it. no real negative reactions. even some smiles.

day one: i get him up, feed him breakfast, and get him dressed. all the while, we're talking about going to school. still no crying. then i put his shoes on and we head outside. we pass the car and he sees that we're not going *in* the car, and he starts to throw a temper tantrum. then i take the stroller out of the trunk and he seems happy enough to sit in that instead. as we round the corner to go to school, i start talking about it again and that's when he starts crying. i'm not even talking about whining; i'm talking about big fat tears rolling down his cheeks. i make the turn to head down the walkway to the school and all the while he's pointing in the opposite direction saying "this way! this way!" i wheel him to the entrance and take him out of the stroller. he's bawling. then he drops to the ground and just sits there and wails. of course all the other parents are looking to see what's going on. i get some sympathetic looks. much to my own dismay, i start tearing up. i blame the raging pregnancy hormones. i eventually end up picking him up and carrying him in to the schoolhouse. i try to get him settled in, but he's still crying pretty hard. i put his stuff away and say my goodbyes, reassuring him that i'll be back later to pick him up and then turn and leave. i tried not to drag it out. later that morning, i get a call from the teacher saying that nathan's doing okay and that he stopped crying shortly after i left. when i go to pick him up, i see that another mom is holding him and he's been crying. apparently he was upset cuz he saw the other mommies come and get their kids and he didn't see me yet. i wasn't even late...just not the first one to arrive. anyway, the teacher tells me that he did well overall, but that he would cry periodically when he was told to stop what he was doing and then start something else. oh but he really enjoyed snack time. haha the teacher and the assistant teacher discussed helping nathan to transition to school and they suggested that i bring him in three days this week instead of two so that there is no gap between the days. seems like a good idea so we'll be going again the next day.

day two: nathan ends up waking up later than usual. i rush him downstairs to eat breakfast and get dressed. we're talking about school again and this time he says "no! no way!" when i say the word "school". oh well, too bad...he's still going. again i get the same reaction when we don't go in the car. he fights the stroller a little today. again as we round the corner and head in the direction of school, he starts bawling. today i just carry him in without seeing if he'll walk in on his own. again, there are tears, but i make a relatively quick getaway after saying goodbye. as i walk out the door, i think i hear him stop crying. today i made sure to get there a bit earlier to pick him up so that i'd be among the first mommies there. i wasn't the first, but it seemed okay since he wasn't crying. what i did notice was that he was in a different set of clothes. apparently he had spilled apple juice all over himself.

day three: again, nathan wakes up past 8 a.m. and we rush to eat breakfast and get dressed. he seems upset while walking to school again, but it seems a little better this morning cuz he has brought stanky (his stuffed hippo) along with him. i really didn't want him to take stanky out of the house, but i couldn't pry it away from him. we get to the school and he's crying again. i tell him that i'm going to take stanky home and he starts crying more. the assistant teacher says that he can keep stanky with him if he wants and she can just put it in nathan's cubby if he happens to let go of him. so i leave without the hippo all the while worrying that he'll lose him. anyway, i go to pick him up later and he's playing in the schoolyard and still holding stanky. big smiles when he sees me. the teacher tells me that he did *much* better today, but that he's still really resistant to changing activities, participating in general (he was the only one who didn't want to go play with the play dough), and cleaning up. we've really got to work on that. maybe we've been doing too much for him and not making him do enough around the house. that's all going to change now. also, he was in his spare set of clothes *again*. this time he spilled milk all over himself. turns out that they use open cups at the preschool and we haven't taught nathan how to use one yet. she said i could bring in a sippy cup for him if i want, but ken and i decided that we'd start teaching nathan how to use an open cup this weekend. she suggested just putting a very small amount of liquid in it at first until he gets the hang of it.

on another note, i ended up leaving nathan again yesterday (day three) when i went to the chiropractor. doug came over to babysit. it was the first time in a loooooong time (like at least 1.5 years) that nathan did not cry when i left him. i said that i would be back later and basically all he did was look up from the couch at him and then he went back to his toy without any reaction whatsoever. maybe he's getting used to me leaving.

even though he got progressively better at school this week, i still anticipate that he'll cry when i drop him off on tuesday morning. i'm hoping that this crying won't last beyond the month. at least at the end of his second week of school, he'll get a special treat...the yo gabba gabba concert!!!