Review of the First Week of School

We survived the first week of school and I'm happy to report that it went quite well - so much better than I had expected. Last Tuesday was the first day of school for both Allison and Daniel. So I got everyone up and dressed (Jeff managed to dress himself luckily) and fed. Then I took a few quick pictures of the kids in their school attire before we headed out the door:
Our first stop was Allison's school. On the first day we were allowed to walk her to her classroom. Which was kind of a joke because her classroom is the closest possible one to the door. But we walked her in and she went right into the classroom without hesitation. She barely said good-bye to us. And that was that. So we got in the car and drove about 500ft to Daniel's school. Okay, so I'm not sure if 500 feet is even remotely close to the correct distance but it's pretty darn close to Allison's school. Daniel's school is basically between our house and Allison's school. And considering we can walk to Allison's school, Daniel's school is pretty darn close. You're probably wondering why were driving then - well, it's August...in Florida...and even at 7:30 in the morning it is quite hot and rather humid. So we drive. Anyway, back to my story. We drove to Daniel's school and in the door we went. Daniel sat down in the lobby for a second and I snapped this picture:
How cute is that chair? Just the right size for Daniel. Then I checked him in through the 30 layers of security (okay, not really but the place is quite secure which is great!) we headed back to his classroom and along the way Jeff admired the walls:

Then they stopped and posed for a picture. Daniel doesn't look too happy in this picture, but actually was quite happy (it jsut didn't come through in the picture):
Then into the classroom we went! Daniel seemed very comfortable and at ease. He walked in and almost immediately began playing with some of the toys. I probably helped that we had visited the classroom 3 or 4 times before.
We knew one person that was going to be in his class - his friend Ali. Her brother Tyler went to preschool with Allison and they both had the same teacher that Daniel and Ali now have - even though it's a completely different preschool. They posed for a picture for me:

We hung around for a few minutes then said or good-byes. Daniel was fine - he said good-bye and went back to playing - no tears! The neat thing about this preschool is that I can go online and see his classroom. There's no sound but I can what the kids are doing (and yes, it's very secure). I spent my first free morning at a friend's house and checked in on Daniel every so often to make sure he was okay. He seemed to be doing great! At the end of the day I picked up both kids. Allison actually gets out of school earlier than Daniel so she came with me when it was time to pick up Daniel. Allison told me she had a good first day of school. Daniel's teacher said that Daniel had a great first day as well. He only cried once in the morning a little bit after we left. Which isn't bad considering he was at school for 7 hours. I was so relieved! But I knew the true test would be if both kids wanted to go back. The next day I took Allison to school. We were still allowed to walk the kids to their classroom but I told Allison to go ahead in ( I didn't want her to get used to me walking her in). She had friends to walk in with and she was fine. She told me later that she almost cried when she had to go in but she held it in. That's a major improvement from last year! I think it makes a world of difference that her classroom is so close to the door. I'm already worried about next year when her classroom will be way in the back of the school (I know, I'm weird like that). All in all, it was a MUCH better first week of school for Allison this year than last year. I think she has matured a lot in the past year and it helps that she knows the routine and a lot of the kids. She still isn't excited about school because she's afraid it's going to be hard, but that's expected from a kid who wants to get everything right. As for Daniel, he did great on his second day of school (which was Thursday). He did cry again but his teacher said it was half the amount of time he cried the first day. When I asked him why he cried, he said "Because you weren't there." Awww. Nice to know I'm wanted. I'm just so proud of him. He has come such a long way. From the grumpy little boy who was scared of pretty much everything and would talk to only Jeff and I. He now talks to those he is comfortable with and seems like a much happier little boy these days. He is still very reserved and cautious (which are both good traits to have) but he seems much more open to new experiences. So hopefully this week will go just as well for both. If not, I'm sure you'll be reading about right here on this blog. Oh, and as for this free time I now have with both kids in school (2 days a week), I'm loving every minute of it!