First day of preschool!

Today was Jackson and Veronica's very first day of preschool ever!  We have been preparing for this for months!  And it went great!  :-)

Wednesday all four of us went to the school for an hour in the morning to meet their teacher and check out their classroom.  They walked right in and started playing that day.  We met a few of the other kids and moms.

We had shopped for lunchboxes, watched videos on preschool, read books about it, talked about it, etc.  So today they were ready!

Daddy and I both went with them.  It was quick and painless!  We walked them into the classroom and they had already decided they would find the mail car (Jackson) and the cupcakes (Veronica) having played with those toys at orientation two days ago.  The kids happily gave us hugs and kisses, we told them good-bye, and that was it!  We walked out.

Daddy went to peek in the window but I didn't dare.  I didn't want to start crying and have them see me.  So I dropped off some papers in the office, still trying to contain my tears (of joy, pride, and a tinge of sadness at how big they're getting!)  I had to pass their classroom on the way to the car so I did peek in.  They were looking at daddy and I and we waved and walked away.  Yay!  We did it!

I think I was not as upset as I thought I might be because I was so excited to have the day off work and was looking forward to over three hours at home alone.  ;-)

When I picked up the kids their were only three kids left in the classroom.  Jackson and Veronica saw me but stayed seated in their chairs, having been told, I assume, that they couldn't get up until the teacher told them it was ok.  When their teacher Mrs. Wills was done with another student she told J and V they could get up.  They showed me the pictures they were coloring.  They grabbed their backpacks and lunchboxes, and off we went!

The teacher said the day was good.  She seemed hot (over 90 degrees today!) and a little tired.  I asked how it went and she simply said good.  I would have loved to have gotten a complete minute-by-minute report of the day but I guess that's probably not likely to happen!  :-(  (From either the teacher or the kids!) 

What I was able to ascertain was that Jackson ate most of his lunch, Veronica ate 3/4 of hers (didn't eat any carrots!)  The beverage supplied by the school was some kind of juice that Jackson said he'd never had before.  Jackson said someone got sand in his eye on the playground.  They colored and painted.  They confirmed that they had "circle time" which I knew from the schedule I've received.  Veronica was talking about a girl Lucy for the next hour.  She said she loved Lucy and was pretending to be her!

Jackson was tired from the start this morning, and so, was pretty tired when I picked them up (translate to crabby with a short fuse!)  We went for a celebratory ice-cream, then home.  Now, I just put them down for a nap.  (Well, I put them down about 10 minutes ago, and just went back to separate them!)  I'll let them sleep for an hour and then wake them so they'll be able to sleep tonight.

I think it's good they started on a Friday.  Next week, we'll go straight into our new routine.  I will start work at 7:00 am on MTWF.  On MWF daddy will take the kids to preschool on his way to work.  I'll pick them up on my way home at 12:30.  On Tuesday, Chela will watch the kids while I work (and run a few errands).  Thursdays I'll be home with the kids.

I'm looking forward to all the things the kids will learn at school!  Yes, the letters, math, reading, etc.  But also the continued work on manners, socialization, etc.  They have been isolated best friends (for the most part) for such a long time.  It will be great for them to make new friends at school.  Of the few moms I talked to on Wednesday, I think most of the kids in that class are heading to kinder next year.  So we'll see how that goes...  it may be a tough decision to figure out if we want to send them next year or the one after that.