Out of the nest

Yesterday was Nico's first day of preschool. He was excited for days beforehand. We've read the book where Llama Llama Red Pajama starts school every night for two weeks and the night before school at bedtime, he kept asking, "Can we go to preschool right now?" We got there a little before his teacher had the classroom set up, so even though Nico was was ready to walk right in, we had to wait. He discovered some trucks and a castle like his in the nursery rooms across the hall and wanted to play, and then once it was time to go back to his classroom he balked and started crying. He actually attempted to flee the scene, and when I wouldn't let him, he hugged me and cried a bit. The teacher's aide invited him to play at the Play Doh table and that just made it worse, so I asked him if he wanted to go sit in the chair way over in the corner by himself for a minute to think about things. He said he did, but then got distracted by some toys. I kissed his head, told him I loved him, and speed-walked out the door. His teacher encourages this type of exit so I knew she wasn't going to judge me for being heartless, and I suspected she knew what she was talking about.

They promised to call if he was upset for more than 20 minutes but apparently he didn't cry at all once I departed. He participated in everything, even Play Doh and painting with an ice cube, which are kind of a big deal for him. He said he liked music time but when I asked what his favorite thing was he said it was playing in the gym. I asked if he shared any toys and he claimed that he did. Not sure if that's true, but I hope so. His class is only six kids, all boys. I'm sure he'll have difficult days, but thus far I couldn't be more pleased. I feel like we definitely made the right choice sending him to school now instead of waiting for late August, I'm so happy with the school we picked, and I'm really proud of Nico for rocking such a big-deal new experience. Hopefully I won't be eating these words next week.

He refused to wear his tiny adorable backpack, so I don't have the traditional first day of school photo. Maybe he'll indulge me next week. Think of the baby book, child! I did take a couple of photos. The first is from before school, when I asked him to say "Yay, preschool!" The second is with his ice cube painting. He wouldn't stand still for the photo unless I flipped the iPhone camera so he could see himself, so the quality is terrible…but at least the first day has been documented!

"Yay, preschool!"