First Day of Preschool

The kids had their first day of preschool (or back to preschool for Rebekah) today. Amazingly, we got ready and arrived 3 minutes before the doors unlocked. (If you know me you know this is a pretty amazing feat in itself.) The kids were so excited to go this morning. As soon as they were ready they were eager to head out the door, especially Joshua. He is like that anyway. Once his shoes are on he is standing at the door ready to leave.

In over-anticipation of the day I unnecessarily packed Joshua a lunch. He will eat lunch on Mondays and Fridays prior to pick-up, but on Wednesdays they do not have lunch. Better to be over prepared than underprepared!

I took Joshua to his class first. Snack is the first activity along with their Bible story of the day, and when I saw the graham crackers on the table I learned that Mrs. Bridget is going to try to accommodate for Joshua's milk allergy. What a pleasant surprise! Funny thing was that I had brought him graham crackers for snack as well.

Joshua wasn't sure about the class at first, and we were one of the first people to arrive in his room. He wanted me to hold him, but when he saw the other children go to sit at the table he wanted to join them too.



Rebekah was next. When we got to her classroom she hung up her backpack then stood in the middle of the room and just looked around trying to decide what to do. She finally jumped right in with a couple of other girls and started playing.




It felt so weird leaving the building empty-handed. Sure, I've left the kids with my parents before or dropped the children off at their respective classes at church, but it was different leaving them both at preschool. It means my son is growing up and is not a little toddler anymore. It's still hard for me to believe I have two in preschool now.

Since the kids are attending on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I don't have an excuse for running late or missing my Wednesday morning Bible study, MEMs (Moms Encouraging Moms). Our church is only about five minutes from the preschool, and the Bible study starts 30 minutes after the preschool opens. We started back today for an introduction to the study we'll be doing and to socialize. We are going to do the Precept study for The Sermon on the Mount. I'm really looking forward to it.

After MEMs I headed back to the preschool to pick up the kids. Joshua was all smiles when I arrived, and I got a good report. Mrs. Bridget fills out a form for each child letting the parent know how things went that day (diaper changes, child attitude/behavior, how well the child ate, naptime, playtime, etc.). When I picked up Rebekah she was eager to see me as well. She also had a good day, but as soon as we got in the car she was clearly exhausted. I couldn't get anything from her about her day.

After we got home and she ate some lunch she perked up and with some coaxing she told me about her day. She had a really good time, and later she told me she was the line leader today. She hasn't learned the other children's names yet, but she seems to have a couple of girls she enjoys playing with, one of whom was a new friend she made at orientation (the dark-headed girl wearing red in an above picture).

Overall, the first day went well for all of us. It will be good for the kids to get a break every so often from each other and to spend time with children their own age as well as for me to have some time from them to do things I need to do, have OB appointments, and have some much needed time to myself. I feel especially testy this pregnancy, and some time to refocus, get in the Word, and to guard my attitude will be extremely helpful not only in dealing with the children but with life in general.