Tyler's First Day of Pre-K Preschool

Tyler started back to school today and, well, I really messed things up. First, I remembered this morning that Tyler had to decorate a paper rocket ship his teacher gave us and take it with him to school today. Fortunately I remembered early enough that he had time to decorate it. I let it air dry for awhile and then hurriedly helped it along with the hair dryer. (Tyler thought that was very funny.) I cringed thinking that my son might appear to be a preschool slacker because I forgot about his assignment. (Let him earn that reputation on his own!)

At the pre-preschool meeting I had with Tyler’s teacher last week, she stressed the importance of being “punctual”. Drop off times are between 12:05 & 12:15. She also made it a point to stress that I park only in the approved spots when I drop him off. (We also got a diagram detailing the proper pick-up procedures and routes!) Well, I pulled into the school lot at 12:18! And there were no open spots in the “designated” areas, only 2 empty handicap spots. Even the “undesignated” spots (along the edges of the grass) had been taken! I had to decide if I should wait for a spot to open up and risk him being even later, or park in one of the handicap spots (a personal pet peeve of mine). I decided to park in the handicap spot and hurry in the building before anyone realized it was my vehicle.

I am driving a rental car because my van is in the shop. They gave me a Trailblazer & the thing must be 5’ off the ground. It's impossible to get out of that thing quickly, so that complicated my plan to hurry in unnoticed. I helped both kids crawl out and handed Tyler his almost dry rocket ship. He reached his hand out and then decided he didn’t want to carry it. He pulled his hand away as I pulled mine away, and we both watched the rocket flutter down into a mud puddle. He gasped and I quickly fished it out. All the glue seemed to create a protective coating, though, so the water didn’t hurt it too much.

We finally made it to his classroom and sure enough, they had already started. I let him hang his backpack up and helped him put his rocket with the others. Then I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead before I left. Apparently that was my biggest mistake, in his eyes anyway. He ducked away, wiped off his forehead, and said, “Mom!” in that way that means “I’m too old for that and you’re embarrassing me”. He hurried off to join his class and I slunk out the door.

So, to recap, I procrastinated on Tyler’s first homework assignment, was not punctual, parked illegally, dropped his finished homework in a mud puddle, and embarrassed him in front of his classmates. We’re off to a great start.

Fortunately pick-up went much better. I got there early and pulled into the designated waiting spot. When he came out, I quickly buckled him in and followed vehicle #1 (I was vehicle #2) along the exit route & to the street. I didn’t tie up traffic, turn the wrong way, or leave anyone behind. I would consider that a successful pickup.

Tyler was excited and declared it had been a good day. He said he wants to go back “a million million times”. He talked in spurts about his day on the way home: He couldn’t get his thermos of water open at snack time even though we practiced at home. (They buy milk for snack here, but he won’t drink milk & their water tastes like sulfur.) He asked his teacher for help. She said she’d help him in a minute but never got around to it. When they were done playing outside (on “the big kid playset”) the teacher blew a whistle indicating it was time to go in. “And if you don’t line up when she blows her whistle, she blows it at you again. She didn’t have to blow it at me, though.” Phew. “We read a book about a naughty boy who tried to touch people with his painted hands.” He went on to tell me about the story. He continued to talk on and off until we got home. I was struck by just how big he really is getting and that I should probably tape our conversations in the car after school so I can replay them for Ron (since Tyler is done talking about school by the time he gets home). So, 1 day down 88 to go. We’re on our way.

Danielle enjoyed some alone time with Mom while Tyler was in school. She felt left out because she didn’t get to decorate a rocket ship earlier, so I drew one for her and we spent our time decorating it. She’s wearing her new princess winter pajamas that she got w/her birthday money. She begged me to let her wear them around the house this afternoon.

And finally, here’s my favorite one-liner from today:
After school we were having a snack at the table when we heard several fire trucks and ambulances go right by our house. Normal for the apartment, not so normal for here. I got up to look out the window and Tyler casually said, “Oh, they’re probably just in a hurry to get to dinner!”