Preschool

After months of being on a wait list that got us nowhere, finding a new school (with a newborn), months of breaking Nolan's heart telling him we don't go to school in the Summer and a few tantrums as a result...Nolan FINALLY started school today! We've been counting down the days since we found out he got a spot at Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool. This morning I went in to wake him up his first words were "Am I going to school today?" and I almost cried when I said "yes, today we are going to school." Seriously I almost cried...damn hormones!

He didn't put up a fight at all this morning, going potty, getting dressed and eating his breakfast were done quickly and peacefully...he was on a mission to get to school. I of course paused our morning routine to capture a few pictures for our annual first day of school portrait. These are the outtakes or practice shots.

This is the smile he makes if he is asked to smile for the camera.

I interviewed him this year instead of answering the questions on his behalf. I did my best to let him answer his own way. The only time I jumped in was if he needed clarification on a question. Otherwise the answers would look like this - favorite activity: toast (what he was eating at the time of said interview).

He kept running around in a circle yelling "yay school!"  so we didn't too many pictures that weren't blurry.

But we got through it in a few sittings and I was pretty surprised with some of his answers. Like how his favorite color is blue now, it has always been green. I did jump in on one question, the 3 words that describe him. He doesn't grasp the use of adjectives yet and when I asked him to describe himself his only response was his name - Nolan. Good enough. Here is the final result.

Then we were off to school. At the orientation we went to last week the teachers talked a lot about transitioning your child during drop off. I knew this wouldn't be a problem for Nolan but wasn't positive now that our family dynamic has changed with the addition of Miles. Sure enough he marched right into his class and didn't look back. His teacher asked if he wanted to say goodbye, he turned and waved and continued on. They were really impressed with his confidence but told me sometimes the kids start to struggle after they've settled in a bit. I assured them that Nolan probably won't have any problems but said they could call if needed.

When I arrived to pick him up I was surprised to find his folder full of the art and activities he had done that day. He was sent home with a little progress report detailing what he did that day so we could talk about it when we got home. Here's a close up of that.

The line, "Nolan sat still during French" makes me laugh as last year his biggest challenge was sitting still during circle time so we've been working on that a lot (we stop reading until he sits down during story time, have him stay seated during dinner, etc) so I was really happy to hear he did well. That and my 3 year old is taking french! This month they are learning about Eastern Europe so they are having Polish lunch today: dill buttered noodles with cabbage. I love this school! They are offering him things I could never even imagine.
Also in his folder was a little tomato. The little girl that was doing show and tell brought in a tomato she grew in her garden for each of her classmates. Nolan was so proud of it he wouldn't put it down. He even asked me to take a picture of it and the C - cat he made.

His actual smile...genuine happiness!

He asked if he can go again tomorrow and I again got to say yes! I love seeing him so excited about school and hope it lasts for a very long time.