preschool

At the beginning of the year, when Nicholas started going to Sunbeams class at Church, he was anxious and wanted us to stay and sit with him for the first several weeks.  
But now, nine months later, he's completely comfortable going to class at Church, playing at friend's houses, and even going to school all by himself. 

He's super chatty with the adults, actually; he buddies up to the teachers and tells them everything that comes into his four-year-old mind.  
Almost too chatty...hopefully we can help him learn about the importance of being quiet sometimes too.

We spent lots and lots of time being excited about preschool, counting down the "wake-ups" until he could go to school, and learning to write his name so he could get a candy bar from his teacher.    
The very first day of Preschool, he was a tiny bit nervous when we first got there, so I stayed for a few minutes, signing papers and sign-ups for parent class help,
but after only a couple of minutes, he turned to me and said, 
"Okay Mom, I think you're supposed to leave now."  He smiled and waved, and we left.
No tears. (none from me either, although I think Kindergarten is going to be much harder for me to swallow.)

Nicholas loves "Teacher Redd" and she tells me that already he is doing great in her class-he's a good listener and excited to participate.

While Nicholas is at preschool, we come home and Ellie goes right down for her nap.  So far, she's slept until just five minutes before we have to go pick him up.
Perfect.  The new-found "Mommy free time" is amazing.  It's been years since I had a two-hour time span with no children awake.  I almost don't even know what to do with myself.

When he gets home, he always tells me about the funniest details.  Like the fish tank with only white fish in it.  And the grapes he picked from Mrs. Redd's backyard.  And the "Dinosaur Song" which from what I can tell only has the word "dinosaur" in it and some vigorous clapping.  

But I can tell already that he is thriving in this new phase of life.  He's less bored at home.  He throws less tantrums.  He's happy and helpful and excited to learn--we spend a good portion of our day with him asking me "does _____ start with C?" "does _____ start with C?" (The program Mrs Redd uses starts them learning with the letter "C" and then they do "A" and then "T" so they can start off reading right away.  Pretty cool.) Yesterday he even pulled a chair into the pantry and started going through every single item in there, asking me if each one starts with "C." 

There are a surprising amount of food items that begin with "C." 

And I'm proud and pleased that my boy is doing so well in preschool. I think he's going to have a great year.