FIRST DAY OF PRE-SCHOOL FOR BEANS [THE EVERYDAY]
Beans had his first day of pre-school today, after two settling-in-with-mommy sessions. He’s been allocated five afternoons as we’re entitled to 15 hours of pre-school fun, but we’re seeing which afternoons suit him best. As as he’s a summer birthday, our poor little Beaner is going to be wiped out for one, and secondly I’m not sure I want him in pre-school that much. Apparently we can be flexible and so that suits us all. I’m thinking Fridays are a definite so that I can get the grocery shopping done [when we have a car again, boo hoo].
I’m so proud of him. At just three he’s toilet trained – and not just using the potty, but he won’t let anyone else empty it and flush the chain either. He’s desperate to be like Yotie and won’t accept help dressing, putting shoes on or getting anything at all for himself. He wants to be his own little person – I’m just not sure I want that too, haha.
The day started off with a Beaver camp disaster, added another wrinkle to my brow, and then at 1pm, after we’d finished getting ready for pre-school and Hero had adjusted his shoes a fair few times after “stamping it in” [how he puts his shoes on] we set off, and just before we arrived we stopped for a quick photo of our first day.
We entered the pre-school and did the name board, and I was then told that I could have dropped him at 12.30, that settling in days were 1.30. Ahhhhh. So, only one hour of blogging today for me, but at least I know I now get TWO hours a couple of times a week! Hero made no fuss at all, no tears, and was led by his key-worker to the play-doh table. He sat, and as she asked him to say goodbye to mommy, he turned and looked at me.
It wasn’t a look of horror, or a teary look, it was a look that said “you know I don’t want to be left without you, what is happening? Am I allowed to cry?” But he stayed strong, no tears, and I cheerily said goodbye as quickly as I could. Not because I didn’t want to stop and hug and cuddle him and make him feel happy I wasn’t going anywhere, but because I’m pretty sure after already having two boys go through the same thing, that mommy loitering is the worst thing I can do. And with Hero, I seem to be out of sight, out of mind according to my mom and dad [who are the only other people who have ever had him alone] – and the pre-school assured me that they would call if he was hysterical.
At collecting time, I’d already got two big brothers in tow with me and he was the last little pre-schooler to be collected. Apparently he spent a lot of the two hours taking everything in, being quiet and then when his key worker shared a story with her, he cuddled up and fell asleep on her, haha. They let him nap for half an hour and then he woke up for some tidy-up time. When he came out he ignored me, went straight for the boys and showed them his very first book bag, ever.
So, this is the result of a roll-over of two sessions, and a first pre-school day alone. He’s exhausted. And for me, my days are about to look repeatedly like this: Up, get ready, walk big boys to school, walk back from school, walk Hero to pre-school, walk back from pre-school, walk to collect big boys from school, walk to collect Hero from pre-school, walk everyone home. I need better walking shoes – there’s going to be a lot of ground covered this year.
