On September 5th, Brady had his first day of preschool. His school started a full two weeks after Ryan went back to school so we were all more than ready for this day to finally come. For the week leading up to his first day, Brady would ask me each morning, "Is today the day I go to school?" Imagine our excitement when I could finally tell him, "Yes!"
He goes on Mondays and Fridays. I'm still coming around to this idea. Frankly, I think it's dumb. People try to tell me, "Oh, it's better than Tuesday/Thursday because the days are more evenly spaced." What they fail to take into account is weekends. The time between Monday and Friday is a lifetime to a four year old and yet the time between Friday and Monday seems to pass in a blink of an eye. Actually, it feels that way to me too and I'm almost thirty so, whatever. Anyhow, like I said, we're coming around to the schedule. The end.
Brady's teacher is awesome. I wanted Brady to have two years of preschool before starting Kindergarten and this first year I just wanted to focus on overcoming his separation anxiety. You know, he's only be struggling with it for his entire life. He never went to nursery on his own. When we would leave him he would marathon cry the entire time or until some poor nursery leader would bring him back to us. I really felt bad for the little guy. And now we are his Sunbeams teachers, so we managed to put things on hold for another whole year. When I was looking for a preschool for him, I wanted something that was fun. And that's it. I just needed it to be fun. I just needed it to give him a positive experience when it came to school. And I think we hit the nail on the head with this preschool. Before I registered him, I talked to his teacher about what I was looking for. She's been teaching for 20 years and she totally knows what she's doing and how to handle Brady's nerves.
 |
| I hadn't ever tried to have Brady write his name before this. (I know, shame on me!) Now we've been working on it occasionally and it's amazing to see how much he's improved in just a few short weeks! |
Brady's school starts 15 minutes after Ryan's school so I just drive carpool to the elementary school and then continue on to drop Brady and his pal Fischer off at preschool. That first drop off was a hard one. He was all smiles walking in and then you could see his nerves take hold. As soon as he realized that I wouldn't be staying he clung to my leg. He didn't care about toys or friends or anything. It was just about the hardest thing I have ever done leaving him that day. He was in tears and his teacher had to grab him away from me. Meanwhile, I was holding Camden who was also in tears because he wanted to stay and play. Oh, the irony!
Drop offs continued to be a struggle. He had a few really bad days where the teacher had to peel him off of me and I had to dart for the door. It was hard having so much time between sessions because it felt like there was no consistency. We'd have a terrible Monday and then there was nothing we could do to work on it until Friday when it felt like we'd start all over again.
I am happy to report, however, that for the past week and a half he has been walking confidently into the classroom on his own and having a great time while he's at school. (For the record, he always was having a great time at school once he was there. The teacher said his tears only lasted for a few minutes after I left.) What finally worked was Zach promising him a trip to the dollar store if he could be brave. After he proved to himself that he could do it, it's been a piece of cake from there. It was a great feeling to walk out to the car after his first successful, happy drop off. My grandma once said to my mom when she was struggling with one of us, "You're only as happy as your saddest kid" and that's totally true! It was like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders when I could walk out of that classroom and wave goodbye to a happy Brady. He is a champion. I am so proud of him.
Bonus Story:
On the first day of preschool I decided to give jogging with kids another try. This time I was down to one. The whole thing went very smoothly but I must point out that jogging uphill with a stroller is considerably more difficult than just simply jogging uphill. I got home, however, and this is what I found.
Face planted. Asleep.
Looks like preschool time will be nap time from here on out.
Exercising with children at home remains an enigma.
2 comments:
We never did a real preschool with Jill. I just did it at home, but Jeff has convinced me that Daniel should go to preschool in Mexico to help him learn Spanish. I'm trying to not freak out about it. I know he will love it. It just seems so lonely. I already miss Jill all day. Gah. I'm such a baby.
I just started working with Daniel on writing his name. I hasn't realized before what an easy name Jill had to write compared to Daniel.
And I have no idea how to exercise at home with kids. I always join a gym with babysitting. I do have friends who work out to videos, and when they do it when their kids are awake, they say their kids like to do it too, and that sounds kind of cute.
You're a champion for using a jogging stroller. I tried that like twice with Jill and decided it was way too hard. Ha. I'm a wimp, too, I guess. ;)
Haha :)
Haha, that picture of Camden face planted is hilarious!! So glad Brady is doing better!!!!
Post a Comment