Reagan's First Day of Preschool

We've been anticipating this day since the beginning of summer.  We talked about going to preschool several times this summer and every time we discussed it, Reagan was thrilled!  A few weeks ago, though, something changed and he wasn't as excited.  I started to get a little nervous that when the day arrived, he wouldn't be emotionally ready.

Fortunately, that was NOT the case!  Last Tuesday, we met his teacher, Miss Jessica.  Last night, we read two stories about going to school: Curious George's First Day of School and Clifford's Day at School.  I also talked with Reagan about the process of dropping him off in his classroom (hang backpack in hallway, hugs and kisses goodbye outside of class).  Nothing seemed to phase him about this new chapter in our lives!

I asked what he wanted for breakfast and he requested poppy seed muffins and waffles!  A little carb heavy, but it's a special day and I wanted to make him what he wanted.  The morning was more than chaotic!  Even though we were up early, the time seemed to slip away rather quickly.  I got the muffins made, but Ryan had to make the waffles while I was juggling getting ready and getting the girls dressed.  Reagan couldn't get dressed until he was done eating.  Mom couldn't take a chance of getting syrup on his new shirt before the pictures were taken ;)

After breakfast, the melt down came.  Reagan was very upset that Mom and Dad were not going to stay at preschool with him.  Even though we discussed this several times, he still thought we would leave the girls at the FAC (supervised care in the Y) and hang out with him during school.  I was able to calm him down and he seemed to finally get that we weren't staying with him.

We took a few pictures in front of the house before dropping the girls with Katie and heading over to the Y.  Despite the craziness of the morning, we left the house on time and arrived at school about 5 minutes before class began.  Originally, Miss Jessica asked the parents not to come into class because it would make the transition more difficult, but all parents walked their kids in class, so we did, too.  Since Ryan hadn't been to the classroom before, Reagan showed him where some of the toys were. After a few minutes of us standing in the corner watching him play, Ryan suggested we leave.  We waved goodbye to Reagan and he ran over to us for a hug and a kiss goodbye.  We walked out of the classroom and there were no tears - he seemed very happy.

Miss Jessica is on the left

(Random sidenote: when we left the room, Miss Jessica still wasn't there!  Kinda strange that on the first day, the teacher was late)

Fast forward 2.5 hours....I walked into the classroom to sign Reagan out (you have to sign in and out every time) for the day.  He was so excited to see me :)  I took a picture of Reagan, Miss Jessica, and Miss Nicole (the aide) right before leaving and Miss Jessica said he had a great first day.  I was so relieved!  We decided to celebrate his first day by taking the kids to lunch at Chick-fil-A!  On our way to lunch, Reagan didn't really say too much about school.  The only info we got was that they read a story about school buses, they didn't play outside because it was raining, and they had goldfish and banana for snack (I asked him about snack).  I tried to pry more information from him, but he had nothing else to say.

All in all, I would call today a success!  I am handling this new chapter okay, but then again, I had Ryan home all day and I also got to eat lunch at CFA :)  It helps that Reagan wasn't crying when I left, so I feel very encouraged.  There is a small piece of sadness, but mostly just happiness.  I have to remind myself that kids are going to grow - they won't stay small forever.  This is a natural phase of parenting and instead of being sad that Reagan is growing so quickly, embrace this moment.  Cherish the huge smile and hug I receive when I pick him up.

The two sweetest moments of the day: after bringing the girls home from Katie's house, Kyleigh walks down the hall and then back to the kitchen and asks, "Where's Reagan?"  I never considered how much of an impact this was going to be on her.  Then, when Reagan climbs into the van after school is over, the first thing he said to Kyleigh was, "Kyleigh, I couldn't have done it without you." I don't quite know what prompted that sentence because Kyleigh had nothing to do with school, but that's what he said.  I think they missed each other.  (Tear, melt my heart!)