Tessa's Turn

The day she has been waiting for has finally arrived!  Tessa has been talking about school since Ben started two years ago right before her 2nd birthday when she walked into the room and started pointing out shapes on the walls.  Although she still clings to her often whiny and self centered three year old persona she is definitely ready for preschool!

I was mildly concerned about what kind of clothing she would want to wear for the first day.  I know it's not a REALLY big deal but of course I wanted some cute pictures so I had something in mind.  She had something completely different in mind but I convinced her by saying this skirt made it easier to see her new shoes.  It's hard to see but she has a little braid in her hair (like Elsa-hey I tried!)

She's been heading up the stairs to this classroom for the last two years to pick up Ben so she just marched right in there with no hesitation. 

She grabbed that blue bracelet at the last minute. It's an old cheapy of mine.  When I picked her up it was off and stowed in her backpack and her barrette was nowhere to be found and of course the braid was long gone.  Who knows what goes on during a session of preschool.

It's hard to believe Milo is older (by only a month but still) than Tessa was when Ben started preschool.  Let's just say he's not identifying diamonds and triangles he sees around the school but he knows what he likes and that is rocks. And there is the most beautiful rock display outside the preschool door.  He can barely stand it.  He's enjoying his first morning home with just the two of us in who knows how long.  He even brought me the remote and demanded "Blaze!" which is a favorite animated monster truck of little toddler boys everywhere. 

I say it's our first morning home...we did have time alone on Wednesday when class started but when I signed Tessa up there was only space in the afternoon class and at the last minute a morning spot opened up which is when most three year olds are at their best so I switched her.  Now she is class with a friend she knows as a younger sibling of Ben's good friend from preschool. 

Ben has been doing pretty good.  He started hitting a wall as the week passed.  I think it is sinking in that Kindergarten is every day and he has said he wants to stay home.  Of course, when he gets home he's always happy and he has been mentioning things he likes. For example, his job of the week is the agenda taker, which, in his words, means, "he turns the wheel to say what activity we are on and then if someone is sad because they want to go home they know what we are doing".  So I guess he's not the only one making the adjustment.  I am kind of surprised since he went to full day preschool last year (although it was every other day not daily) and he never once hesitated to go and he seemed disappointed on mornings when he didn't have to go. 

I am enjoying the trip down elementary school memory lane personally.  When he says he wants to stay home I always talk about how I loved school so much and I couldn't wait to go. Yesterday they had their first library day which was always awesome in my opinion.  I loved writing my name on those little cards in the pocked inside the cover and having the librarian stamp them.  And I've said it before but if anyone presented me with an authentic card catalogue cabinet I would not hesitate to make room for it in my house even though the little drawers would serve little other purpose except for cards.  This morning he was talking about how they have a calendar and are going to have a party on the 100th day of school which is a recent thing which I don't remember anyone celebrating when I was a kid.  But how would I know?  No one was posting about it all over social media so maybe other schools did celebrate it!

The bus has been working out fine. Now that Tessa has a morning session I will be driving him on those mornings.  This morning was the first drop off and we were earlier than the bus would have been so he didn't really know what to do with himself on the playground until the bell rang but I did the creepy mom thing and watched to make sure he went and started playing before I left.  I kind of love the bus.  It is fabulous not to have to load up the other kids twice a day.  At least for now-I can see it being kind of annoying to stand out there waiting for it when the weather turns cold. 

So the first full week of school has been chaotic but I guess it's been a success.  It will be nice to have a long weekend though.