Drop off went smoothly. He was so excited. I had him come to help me put away his nap items (blanket, pillow, stuffed toy), his spare clothes, his lunch box, the administrative stuff. We went to the mat outside of his classroom and left his "street shoes" there, changing into his new classroom shoes. Crocs shaped like cars with flashing taillights and everything! At this point, I had to say goodbye. Kel was wriggling and trying to get into the classroom as I hugged him tightly, hoping that everything would go well on this first day of a whole new way of life. As I watched from the door, tears in my eyes, he was introduced to another new girl, got started with an activity, and was happily chatting away as I walked back out to the car. Where I promptly lost it. Like I said, its a lot for a mother to take in!
I picked him up at 3pm. He was happy and ready to tell me all about his day. He didn't have any major problems. There was an issue with forgetting to change back into his street shoes when they went to the playground, but the teacher brought him back in to do that. He put his shoes on by himself. Used the bathroom on his own, no problems. Ate plenty of lunch. Had a nap (he said that he was "very tired" and slept "for a loooooooong time" until the teacher woke him up. Not sure how long "loooooooong" is, but I'm glad that he napped if he needed it). He has a "favourite kid" who is a "guhwol" (girl), but couldn't remember her name. He enjoyed playground time. They definitely worked on numbers, telling time, clocks, and so forth, as he was on and on about "how many hours" for this and "what time" we do that all evening.
It sounds lame, but he really was a different kid last night. More independent and sure of himself. Wanting to do everything on his own, really expressing himself, wanting to work on puzzles and number games instead of begging for an episode of Dora. Day one was a definite success. We are so proud of him.
