On September 15, Evan very calmly started preschool. Clearly, he has spent some time in schools as Ryan's little brother. His level of comfortability with what was happening made going to school feel like a very natural event. I felt excited for Evan that he was embarking on his OWN school experience, as opposed to being an interloper in Ryan's school world.
I am really thankful that he was cooperative with me taking so many pictures of him!
Burke got up early and made a pancake breakfast to celebrate E's first day!
Ready to go!
Evan's first day.
Ryan's tenth day.
"We're brothers. Cha."
Outside the school, posing.
At his locker.
About to begin his school adventure.
This first day was really more of an orientation. The school day was shorter and parents could stay, which I planned to do. But, I realized that I forgot to send a snack with him and told him I was going to run home to get one for him. He said, "Okay, I'll stay with her," as he thumb pointed over toward his teacher, Mrs. Meyer. He was unfazed by me leaving. Which is good, right?
(On Day 4, he wanted to cross the driveway himself and go into school by himself. Without me! I laughed and said, "I'd like to come in and play for a bit. Is that okay?" He was fine with that, thankfully. Can't shake me off that easily, kid. At least, not yet.)
Signing in - which consists of tracing and writing his name.
Playing castle - a new toy since Ryan attended 2 years ago. Evan really liked this castle with the knights and such.
Mrs. Meyer reads a story about the first day of school. He has a small class as of right now - 15 total.
18 is their class max, though, and I'm sure they'll fill those spots soon. In the meantime, I'm so happy with the small class size. They also have an aide, Mrs. Kableman, so the adult/child ratio is amazing at this time.
Snack time.
The forgotten snack.
This is Day 2 of Preschool and this is when it got real for me.
Playing with the spoons in the kitchen. Of course, the spoons turned into swords at one point.
It was a matter of time before he discovered computers were an option during free play.
As I did with Ryan, I hang out in the classroom and help out and chat with the teacher during free play. Then when they are called to the circle to start their day, I leave. And this is the first day I left Evan there to begin experiencing his life apart from me. I cried and cried as I drove away. I didn't want to go home. It'd be too quiet there and it'd make me more sad. All week, I busied myself during the hours he was at school to avoid being home. I know I'll adjust, but this transition is a little tough for me.
When I picked Evie up, I took him out to lunch at the restaurant of his choosing to celebrate his first real day of preschool. Grilled cheese and soup from Panera!
While avoiding being home alone, I went shopping alone (which was actually quite lovely). Among the purchased items were new Beanie Ballz, or as their called in our house, "numnas." The boys are building quite a collection of these little guys. They just love to use them as characters in their imaginative play, and also they love to snuggle them. They were so excited and thankful by the new surprise numnas. Ryan literally screamed.Welcome to the family, Zips & Lilac!
My two favorite parts of the day are when I pick up my monkeys from school!
Evan, We are so proud of your confidence as you begin school. You are a really bright, funny little boy. We hope you love school and always do your best, learn as much as you can possibly can, and have fun doing so. We love you so much, Little E! love, Mama & Dada
