Pre-Gool

My little boy started his first day of preschool today!

I was just as excited as he was.  Sure, I was a little sad to see him so grown up, but I was just really so excited for him to be able to have this new experience in life.  I know he'll just love it.

We've talked about school a lot, as in, "If you don't start going pee-pee in the potty, you can't go to school."  I was so nervous that Kaeden really wouldn't get to go to preschool because the kid refused to potty train.  Meredith told me that the school Jane was going to didn't really care if he was potty trained or not, so back in July I gave the teacher a call to see if Kaeden could get in her class for the upcoming school year.  Sadly, her class was full.  So I continued the search for a preschool for Kaeden, but ALL had the prerequisite of being potty trained. I honestly thought my kid would be the only kid wearing a pull-up to the first day of Kindergarten!

Then when I got that wild idea to attempt potty train him [again] on my own a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking that maybe, just maybe he would be successful, and I could still find a class for him to join.  That very next day the teacher of the school Jane was going to called and said that she had an opening if Kaeden wanted it.  I pretty much felt like the heaven's opened up and God was smiling on me.  Potty training and preschool in a 48 hour period!

And so we anxiously awaited and talked about his first day.  We were able to find him a toddler size backpack.  I can't handle how cute it is to see little kids with backpacks.  Especially when you see all the little kids walking to their bus stop in my neighborhood, and the little kindergartner's back packs are like 18 sizes too big.  So cute.

We had a little photo shoot in the morning to document his big day.

And then he got a little sassy with his double peace signs.

We went back in the house and after about 15 minutes I'm like, "Okay Bug! Let's get in the car and go to school!"

Kaeden's like, "Umm....hold on. I watching this show."

So I'm like, "Okay.. well, we need to hurry, or we'll be late."

And then he gives me some other reason why we needed to wait a minute. After about the third excuse, Jeff whispers to me, "I think he's stalling. It's his first day of school ever, and he's already stalling."

At the same moment Kaeden blurts out, "I scurred. I scurred of gool." Translation: "I'm scared. I'm scared of school."

Oh. My. Gosh. One, I didn't know Kaeden understood the concept of being scared or nervous, and two, I never even thought about the possibility of him having anxiety. This is something we'd talked about so much, something he was so excited for.

We got him in the car and explained to him what he'd get to do at school. By the time we got there he was pumped. Add to the fact that his best buddy Jane jumped out of the car parked in front of us, and this kid was set.

Jane is so cute. She jumps out of her car, and yells to Jeff and I, "Guys! I get to go to school!" I'm pretty sure she thought nothing of the fact that Jeff and I were there to drop Kaeden off. Instead she's just like, Hey! More people to cheer me on! That girl is a crack up.

We took some more pics:

And to avoid tears, I had to push back the thought of the day these two preschoolers first met. You know. At Kaeden's BIRTH!

Where did the time go?!?!?

After a bit, the kids all marched their way down the stairs to enjoy their first day of school.

Two hours later, we picked them up.

Kaeden was the only child screaming and crying because he wanted to stay. He yelled, "Go gool! Go gool! I stay! I stay!"

It's amazing what a bargaining chip going to school has been. We've had to "call" Miss Katie many times to inform her of any and all of Kaeden's behavioral blunders. Throwing a fit about going to bed? Call Miss Katie! Refuses to go potty? Miss Katie! Won't stop crying? Miss Katie won't let him come back! But I'm not sure how much longer this will work. He still gets concerned whenever we need to "call" Miss Katie, but the other day he was using a remote control to make phone calls. The next thing I know, he's calling Miss Katie and having a conversation with her. Does that mean he understands the concept of our fake calls?!?!?

And another thing, at what point does a kid start loathing school and not see it as the privilege they once thought it was?

Because I never want to see that day.