First Day of School!

First day of playschool 2011

Tuesday was Barnes' first day of Playschool at First Presbyterian!  It was a big day.  I planned out everything... had his breakfast ready, backpack packed, clothes laid out, sister dressed and ready to go.  So its time to wake him up and it goes like this:

Me:  Barnes its time to get up.

BBP: ME NO GO TO SCHOOL!

Me: Its going to be fun! You will make new friends and make crafts and sing songs and play outside.

BBP: ME NO LIKE SCHOOL!  ME NO GO!

Me: Well, lets get ready and we can talk about it over breakfast.

So we have breakfast, which he refuses to eat.  I try to persuade him that he will love it, to which he fights me at every turn.  We get dressed, he hates his clothes, doesn't want to wear what I picked out.  Overall, it isn't going well.  So I ask if I can take his picture, to which he relents and actually half smiles. I then bribe him with a box of gummy lifesavers to even get in the car.  But this seems to change his attitude... THANKFULLY! And he eats his gummies and seems content on the way there unless I directly mention school and he says, ME NO GO!

About this time, I'm thinking I'm totally going to be the mom whose child must be peeled off her thigh. Dreading every minute of the embarrassment of having to wrangle him and try to keep Anna Kate happy and content as well while we are in the middle of a swarm of kids and parents.

So we get there and it goes like this:

1.  I sign him in.
2.  I tell the teacher about his tree nut allergy and give her the epi pen, which is totally ridiculous to talk about punching a hole in his leg and calling and ambulance! OH DEAR, I'm sure they LOVE  me already.  I'm the MOM with the allergy kid!
3. We go to the bathroom, which hes fascinated with because there is a tiny little boy sized urinal in the floor and he says! ME PEE PEE IN THAT!
4.  We go back down the hall after washing our hands and I take him to the classroom.
  THIS IS THE MOMENT I'M DREADING!
5. I tell him I'm going to leave and he says, Bye mommy and walks away!

NO screaming, no drama, not even a second thought.  He just walks away.  I'm in shock!  I grab Anna Kate and get the Hell out of there~ FAST! I take one more look as I'm heading by the classroom door and hes sitting at a table playing with an etch a sketch.  He looks up and waves at me and that's it. First day drama was non-existent.

7.  I leave and cry all the way to the car!  I'm overwhelmed by what a big, smart, handsome, precious little boy that the baby I held in my arms has become.  I think to myself that Brad and I have done good. We have done well.  He is a great little boy.

After I leave, I call everyone I know to tell them how shocked I am at what happened and say how proud I was of him.  When Anna Kate and I pull up to the school to pick him up at 11:45 we are the first SUV there.  My friend on the phone says... YOU CANNOT BE THAT MOM! Leave now and drive around for five minutes.  Then you can come back.  (Thanks for the advice, Jamie!)

When we come back, we are about car #8 in a line of 30+ SUVs and mini vans all waiting anxiously to pick up their pre-schoolers.  So as the line starts moving and they put him in the truck the convo goes like this,

Me:  Barnes did you have fun?

BBP: Yes, Mommy.  Me played outside!

Me: Great! I'm so glad you had a good day, do you want to come back again soon?

BBP:  Umm, No thank you.

OH DEAR! Who knows how things will be tomorrow when we go back for day #2.  Wish us luck and say a prayer.