June's 1st Day of 4-Year-Old Preschool!

June was all smiles as she embarked on a new year at her new Montessori school.  She'll be going five half days per week.  (A little more than I'd like, but when you move to town late in the sign-up game, beggars can't be choosers.  Besides, it's preschool, so I can pull her out now and then whenever I feel like it!)  As luck would have it, the school is owned and run by a family friend of ours who grew up in my hometown in Missouri.  What are the chances?  It's nice to know she'll be in good hands.


(And now I shall force myself to include these terrible photos with the parental units for posterity): 

(Quick! Everyone go for Mom's boob!)  (How did this woman even get out of hair and makeup anyway?)

I didn't expect any problems at the drop-off, and there were none, but suddenly on days 2, 3 and 4 our normally sweet little June was waking up like a bear.  An angry grizzly, to be exact.  As Joe said, it was like having your favorite teddy bear suddenly furiously mad at you for no explicable reason.  The food is not right!  My chair is not right!  I want bananas!  How dare you give me bananas?!  You are not paying enough attention to me!  (Even as we sat next to her gently patting her leg and offering condolences.)  So, it seems that starting school did affect her after all, just in a different way than what we've experienced with Georgia.  June is her own person and is by all means entitled to her own emotional bumps in the road, but sometimes the fact that she normally takes everything in stride so incredibly well means that these bumps take us by surprise.  This week we're sticking to a stricter bedtime (now that her nap has been dropped) in the hopes that our mornings will be more peaceful, and so far it's working.

At drop-off there's a carpool lane, but when we pick her up before lunch we get to walk in.  I know there are many wonderful models of preschool, but I have to say that there is something about the Montessori environment that is just so wonderfully calming.  Already Waylon is making himself at home in the few minutes that we're there each day; he'd love to stay if he could.


(This is not a post about Georgia.  I shall simply say it only got worse from there.) 

Overall, last week was a bit rocky.  In addition to June's moodiness, after the long Labor Day weekend, Georgia struggled to go back to school.  It was also Week 1 for me of our "new normal", now that both of the girls' schools have started.  And that was a harsh reality.  I guess what I'm getting at is this:  school is not the promised land for me that I had been holding it out to be.  This was a fun, but long, summer of endless unscheduled days in a messy new home in a town where I know exactly one other family.  So, to make it through mentally, I just kept telling myself, "Well, when school starts, we'll have more of a routine, we'll get to know people, and the girls will be gone for a little while so I'll be able to make more progress."  I don't regret thinking that way, because it helped to get me through.  However, I was wrong.  Yes, we do have more of a routine now, and that feels very, very good.  The sum total of time that the girls are away is only two hours and twenty minutes each day, though, once you account for the fact that the hours of their school days do not perfectly coincide.  Add in driving for two drop-offs and two pick-ups, plus the fact that I've got Waylon with me at all times, and well, it's not that my primary goal in life is to get away from my children (as it may sound here), but let's just say I was on crack when I thought this would feel like "freedom" or when I assumed I'd suddenly become more productive at home.  The reality of school is that it just means I can no longer jaunt off on big city adventures with the kids whenever we want.  I know it's only Tuesday, but Week 2 is going much, much better now that I've adjusted my expectations.  Want to feel like you're knocking it out of the park?  Just lower the bar.  : )

That probably sounded like I'm being sarcastic, but I'm really not.  Our life is good, it's just full of changes, and I'm usually the slowest to keep up.  June, on the other hand, always seems ready to go get 'em, and we're proud of her for that.  We don't even care what year she graduates - it's all written in chalk anyway.


 

Blip

Y'all probably want to me shut up about preschool already, but now I've started a vicious cycle of reporting about it, so I feel like I have to update. Someone stop this train, I want to get off!

Anyway, Georgia cried so much at school yesterday that she made herself throw up. Four times.

We're hoping this was just a fluke of a rough day and that she'll be fine again on Friday. They've said she can bring along her stuffed doggie for comfort. C'mon dog, don't fail us now!

How 'bout I fill you all in after another month or so, so that I don't get caught up in these flip flopping daily updates, mmmmkay?

Yippee!

Day 1 of Georgia's preschool was a raging success. A ten out of ten in our book.
She was SO ramped up for it that she surprised us by showing up in our room at 7:00 a.m. fully dressed from head to toe (including her shoes and socks) in the outfit that we had laid out the night before. This from a girl who normally fights to keep pj's on all day if she can. No tears at dropoff, no tears at pickup, and happy reports for us after it was over. According to the teacher, she only cried a couple of times for a few minutes, at transition points like when they went out to recess. This is all miles ahead of where she was last year, so we'll take it! Hooray!


A new tradition, to be photographed with this poster on the first day each year. Here's to hoping that she doesn't make a liar out of this thing!


She insisted on being photographed with a musical instrument on the first day of school. I have no idea why, but we went with it.






Off they go!

Raise Your Hand if You're Ready for Some PRESCHOOL!

I am!

Not sure if the kids are, but I am really looking forward to:
a) everybody around here having more of a set routine;
b) each kid getting the age-appropriate activities and attention they deserve; and
c) not having to care for three children 24-7!  (I am allowed one selfish reason, right?)

Georgia's first day is tomorrow.  A confession:  I have been getting really jealous lately of all the facebook updates and blog posts about the wonderful school experiences of everyone's super well-adjusted kids.  I can't help it.  School was such an uber-disaster for our family last fall that I think to myself that nobody appreciates how lucky they are, and how easy they have it.

But enough of my pity-party, because we've all got our own challenges.  (And in the grand scheme of things, as stressful as it all seemed at the time, if I'm filing preschool dropout under "family uber disaster", well then I guess I've got a pretty posh life.)  I was (naively) optimistic about Georgia's first day of preschool last year, and I'm optimistic again this year.  She really has matured and changed a lot.  Also, last year's school was primarily selected for its proximity to our home, whereas this year's school was primarily selected for its ability to allow Georgia to phase into it slowly.  She started going to a mom and tot class there with me once a week last winter, and then did a three year old "transition" class that met once a week for a couple of hours this spring, and then again for a short session this July.  So the grand plan has been that when she shows up tomorrow, it won't feel so new, and she'll at least feel comfortable in the building and hopefully recognize a few faces.  But beyond that, she really is doing so much better these days anyway with her separation anxiety and at adjusting to new situations and people.  Fingers crossed for a happy report tomorrow!   

The funny thing is that we tried to not make too big a deal out of the start of preschool this year, attempting to bill it as, "Oh, the next session of your school is starting," as if it were really just a continuation of what she had already been doing.  Well, she's no dummy, so between the new larger backpack, the new lunch bag, and everyone talking about "back to school", she's WAY keyed up for this.  Oh, and let's not forget the greatest thing of all:  the ballet slippers!  Her school requires everyone to take off their shoes and wear ballet slippers all day, I guess so that the floors stay clean and the kids clobber each other less.  So Saturday we picked up a pair of ballet shoes at Target and she has been infatuated ever since.  Wearing them to bed.  Refusing to go to the park because it would mean taking off the slippers.  Putting Joe's tube socks on over them just so that she can join us for dinner on the porch without taking off the ballet shoes.  She woke up yesterday morning with a big blister from having worn them 'round the clock with no socks.  The blister was a blessing in disguise, because it's the only thing that's made her relent and remove the slippers.  I was beginning to get worried that the biggest problem on her first day of school would not be saying goodbye to mom and dad, but changing into regular shoes for recess.  Oh well - we should be so lucky, right?


One day when I get around to it I'll update the food allergy blog to share our experiences with this school on that front, but for now suffice it to say that they've said all the right things to make us feel comfortable and have been nothing but understanding, so we're feeling good about that.