Preschool Repeat

Today was day 2 of preschool for Wesley, and although it didn't go quite as well as day one, I'm still counting it a success. It started out great. When I told Wesley that he had preschool again today he hopped out of bed, picked out an outfit and helped choose clothes for Ryan to wear. He cooperated while getting dressed and we even had time to eat breakfast before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's to drop Ryan off. I tried to take a picture of the boys together this morning, but this is what I ended up with.

Wesley was in a great mood on the way to Grandma's, but he started whining when we arrived to drop Ryan off. He said it was because he wanted to go to preschool RIGHT THEN, but now I kind of wonder. When it came time for us to leave, Wesley chose to leave Stinky Bear (Carr) with Grandma. He tucked Carr in for a nap and asked Grandma to call him if Carr starting crying. Grandma promised she would and we headed out.

I don't think we were in the car for more than four minutes before Wesley insisted he could hear Carr crying and that he needed to call Grandma to check on him. I tried giving Wesley a toy phone that was in the van, but he wanted a real phone. We waited until we had parked the van at the preschool, then we called Grandma. She assured Wesley that Carr was fine and that she'd take good care of him.

Wesley and I went into his classroom and did the morning routine of hanging up his bag and jacket, putting his name crayon in the box and washing his hands. After that he seemed ready for me to leave. I hung around for a few minutes then pulled out my invisible crowbar to force myself out of the room. Wesley didn't bat and eye when I left, but it was SO HARD to walk out that door - and even harder to continue down the hall and out to the parking lot.

I decided to treat myself to a little "Mommy Time" at Target. The only problem was, I couldn't really enjoy it. I was so worried about how Wesley was getting along. I finished my shopping with 40 minutes to kill before I could pick him up, so I decided to go get a scone and some tea and read my book. That didn't really help either. I think I checked the time every 3 three minutes until it was time to go.

I joined the gaggle of other mom's standing outside the classroom door. The room was empty because the class had gone downstairs to the rumpus room. After a moment I heard the tell tale whine of my oldest son - loud, fake, and annoying. Sure enough, he was at the front of the line, holding his teacher's hand. He made a break for it when he saw me, but I managed to get him back in his room until Mrs. P. and Mrs. T. were ready to release the kids one by one.

Wesley was the last one to be released and, rather than sending him out in the hall, they invited me in. Apparently things didn't go overly smoothly today. Wesley didn't misbehave, but he didn't want to leave the classroom when the class did, and he said he was afraid of steps. WHAT?! Afraid of steps?! Where did that come from?? His teachers were very sweet and said that they looked forward to seeing him tomorrow and that they knew school was a big adjustment for him (I warned them ahead of time that he has never been away from family).

As we drove home, Wesley asked to call Grandma again to check on Carr. It occurred to me that today was probably tougher for Wesley than I gave him credit for. It was the first time he was away from the family, the whole class was there so there were a bunch of new kids he's never seen, and he isn't allowed to take his comfort object to school with him. Poor kid.

Wesley "woke Carr up" as soon as we got to Grandma's and asked her to fix Carr a snack of scrambled eggs, pancakes, applesauce and yogurt. He buckled his bear in Ryan's high chair and insisted that she pretend to feed each bite of food to Carr before Wesley would eat it. Honestly, Wesley wanted Grandma to spoon feed him, but I wouldn't let her. I think he was just feeling really insecure.

On the up side, he doesn't seem upset by the fact that he'll be going back to preschool tomorrow and he was very proud of all the artwork he brought home. I just have to remind myself that every day will be a little easier. And today wasn't bad, just a little rough. Here's hoping for smooth seas ahead!