First day of school!

Well, I the boys made it through their first day of school!  Noah is now officially a preschooler at Creative Preschool, and Caden is at Mother’s Day Out in the toddler room.  On this rainy morning, I had to drop them off to start another chapter in their lives.  Yes, that’s a little sappy, but it was kind of tough this morning.  I’d like to say it was harder for me than the boys, but that’s not the case for Caden.

Noah had the first drop-off, where we hung up his (huge) bag, put his snack bag in the bucket, then headed over to his square on the floor for circle time.  No problem.  Barely a look at me as he blew me a kiss (weakly), and looked around at all the toys, trying to figure out what he’d do first!  (Caden was more upset when he couldn’t stay to play with the cars.)  He was happy to see me when I returned, but talked about having a good time, playing in the “big room” and drawing a picture of a clown (a smiley face with huge eyes, a big smile, and a very small red dot for a nose-“I said ‘boop’ when I made his nose.”).  No big deal.

  

Then it was time to take Caden to MDO.  We had been there last Thursday to check out the room, meet the teachers, and to play.  So he was fine when we first walked in, happily carrying his “Memo” lunch bag.  He immediately dropped the bag and headed over to find the tractor he had played with on Thursday.  I hung out for a bit, putting his things away, taking a couple of pictures.

  

Then I went up to him to give him a hug and a kiss, and as I gave him a kiss, he said “NO!”  Not angry, but sort of pleading.  Augh!  His sweet little voice, begging me not to leave!  My eyes started burning a bit-fight it back, Saj!  And then I tried again, this time starting with a high-five and some knuckles, then progressing to the hug and kiss.  Again the “no.”  Okay, one last time.  And it seemed to work.  Then, as I started walking out the door, he followed, beginning to cry.  And I had to just leave.  Mostly because that’s what “they” say to do.  (You know, the “experts.”)  But also because if I didn’t, I was going to make a huge blubbering scene in front of all the other moms who were totally holding it all together, all talking about heading over to the gym for their workout.  I made it to the car, called Andy, and started to cry.  I had to leave my baby, knowing he didn’t realize I’d be back a short 5 hours later.

When I did finally return, he seemed pretty relieved to see me.  One of the teachers (Miss Lisa) nicely informed me that he had “a bit of a rough morning.”  I asked if he cried long, and she said until about quarter to 11.  I dropped him off at 9:30!  He cried for almost an hour and a half!  I keep telling myself he probably wasn’t sobbing the whole time, and truthfully, he probably wasn’t.  It’s still heartbreaking.  But Miss Lisa was wonderful, giving Caden a hug, and telling him to remember her for next week.  He probably won’t, but a small part of me thinks he may.

I’m so excited for the boys to be in their respective programs.  I think Noah is more than ready for school, even just 2 mornings a week, and I think the socialization is great for Caden.  In a few weeks, they’ll be starting at a daycare as well, just one day a week.  We’ll see how that goes!