Back to school

Preschool that is. Henry still seems like my "baby" in so many ways. But he is growing up and getting so big. He started his second year of preschool on September 2. Last year as a two-year-old he went one morning a week for 2.5 hours. This year he is in the three's class and goes three mornings a week for 2.5 hours. He goes Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I have been a nervous-wreck/basket-case about him going back to school and being gone for three mornings a week. Patrick has felt confident that Henry would be fine and even made a chart and sat down with me to show me that he would still be home more hours than he would be gone. However, we started school with the premise that if it ended up being too much that we would only send him two mornings a week.

I bolstered all of my courage to bring him to school that first day, all while putting on a brave face so that Henry wouldn't know my fears and reservations. We visited the school the week before where Henry was able to meet his teachers and friends and play in his classroom for an hour. We'd spent the night before his first day and the morning of talking about all of the exciting things he would get to do and see at school that day. We got his backpack ready, drove to school, then stood outside of the school and then his classroom taking pictures. Finally it was time to walk through those classroom doors. Henry walked right in and I followed behind him. He hung up his backpack, looked around and quickly found some trucks to play with. His teachers kindly said goodbye (as a former preschool teacher I understood the undertone of --it's ok, he will be fine, you can leave now) and William and I left the classroom, stood outside for a few minutes waiting for Henry's tears that never came and then walked to the car and drove home. The two and a half hours actually passed really quickly. William napped nearly the entire time and I busied myself catching up on things around the house. When we went back to pick up Henry he was sitting at a table surrounded by other 3-year olds with a huge smile on his face. He was thrilled to see us, but even more excited to tell me about school.

He has done great every day since. He hasn't ever said that he doesn't want to go or had a hard time saying goodbye to me at the door. Yesterday when I picked him up his teachers told me that he had really opened up that day. They said he started out pretty quiet, but he started to perk up and was very talkative to them during the morning. As a mother it was nice to know that they care about each child and take the time to notice how mine is doing.

Today wasn't a school day and Henry almost seemed a little bit disappointed when I told him this morning that today was a stay-at-home day. He said, "ok, then tomorrow I can see my friends"!

The first day of school


On the first day they read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. It's a sweet story about a little raccoon getting ready to start school. He talks about his worries to his mother and she comes up with a solution to help him remember that she loves him and is thinking about him, even when she isn't with him. She kisses the palm of his hand so that if he misses her or gets scared he can hold his hand to his face and feel her love. Henry made a "kissing hand" at school (you can see it in his backpack) and brought it home for me to personalize (with a sticker, heart, etc.) and then tuck back into his backpack for him to keep with him. It was a sweet idea, and now Henry always wants me to kiss his hands before he goes to bed at night.