There is something sucky about the week leading up to Labor Day. The end of American summer. The start of school. Suddenly it gets noticeably cooler. The waterparks and pools are about to close. Halloween decor is all of the sudden every-damn-where you look. I no longer feel as comfy sporting my white jeans, madras print, and jute tote bag. I notice it is actually dark at 9pm.
My firstborn "baby," who'll turn 4 in about 7 weeks, started half day, drop off, bilingual English/Spanish Montessori preschool today. We had been talking about it all month. Literally, All Month Long. You see, my Mr. Spirited seems to do best with lots and lots of notice about upcoming transitions.
"You're going to Montessori in a few weeks, so-and-so will be there, Mama and Daddy won't go into the classroom with you because you need time to be with your friends, your works, and your teachers, then we'll pick you up when class is dismissed. And you get to wear special McQueen slippers only at school...."
To which DS usually responded with "Are we going today? You mean today-today??"... "I don't want to be dropped off!" ... "Why can't you come in the classroom with me?"... "What are you going to do while I'm at school?"... "No, Mama! I want you to take me with you while you do your work and run errands!"... "I don't want to speak Spanish!"
We drove up at 8am today. One of the teachers was waiting by the door. I was fully expecting a tearful goodbye, with DS kicking and screaming. Nope. DS bid a cheerful "Hola!" to the teacher and ran right into the school. Without so much as a goodbye. See ya! So I handed the teacher his things, and got the eff out of there before DS changed his mind.
At the 11:45am pickup, DS was the last kid out of the classroom. He didn't want to leave.
Tonight, all he did was talk about school. He mentioned the names of a boy and a girl he wants to be friends with. He told me that the teachers don't allow any candy at school, and that if he uses naughty words or fights with the other kids, he'll be "kicked right out." (Um, pretty sure they didn't say it quite like that. Gotta love preschooler speak!) He demanded I take him back there tomorrow.
They say today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. ;) Wishing you many smooth transitions.
12 comments:
way to go, hope our transition is a smooth! :)
Love it! Sounds like the effort in talking about it beforehand paid off.
ooh, lucky you. My baby was weeping as I left. Only two hours till I can go pick him up.
Great news!
Oh, and you'd fit right in if you ever decided to move to Australia: they do the seasons like that.
I'm totally with you on the season. I do them by month, and I hate that it's September already! Except for the whole kids going back to school. That me likey!
Glad that your boy did so well with the transition. Way to prepare him! It really seems to have paid off. I hope he always demands to go to school, straight through college!
Congrats! Sounds like a great drop off experience. My son saw a mini John Deere tractor when I dropped him of at preschool the first day. He turned to me and said, "You can go now." My daughter used to get mad at me when it was my "parent helper" day at her preschool. "But I want to be alone with my friends and my teachers! Go home, Mama!" Much less wear and tear on Mama when they're okay with you leaving. I'm glad for you.
So excited for September. It's the best month of the year here in Maine. No humidity, lots of sun, and all the tourists have gone home! Best of luck to everyone with all the transitions.
Awesome Awesome Awesome! :)
(Tate is testing the yelling, hitting, using naughty words and you get thrown out rule this week. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that...)
Awe.some! I am also well versed in the 'get the eff out before they change their mind' shuffle.
DS had his first day at the new daycare. It went both better than expected, and kind of as expected. Lots of advance preparation here too. He barely whimpered this am when DH and I left. But he apparently cried off and on in the am (though was fairly easy to comfort). The good news is that he wants to go back tomorrow. And he seems excited. First time ever being excited about a new daycare. Now we just have to figure out the commute. Toasting all of you with my virtual glass of wine (good, or not so good transitions alike).
Glad to hear the Montessori school & the transition in general is going so well.
I'm always glad to read about transition-navigating, even though (or maybe because?) I've had to start accepting that, in our house, no matter how great or desirable or exciting what new thing we are doing is, we are all just genetically predisposed to have some sort of general angsty freak-out regarding said transition. So, at our house, kids are excited about school & fall activities, and yet we are in the midst of what I'm guessing will be about 3-4 weeks of randomized crying & (now that Elder's almost 8yo) SIGHING, which will make me join in, but will all resolve itself just when I've come up with some great plan to make everybody happy but before I do anything, thus reminding me how little I'm driving the bus.
Elder's in 2nd grade this year (also Montessori), & I'm just now figuring out that I could maybe relax into this pattern & reduce my own angst, a bit, that way. Oy vey.
Congrats on being so ahead of the curve!
Ah, kids. Glad it went well!
Hooray for a smooth transition!
You could move down here. Our seasons are all pretty much the same. Not exactly the same. But let's just say I don't wear a heavy coat unless I travel.
Thank you all for your sweet comments! And to the Americans, I hope you're all having a great Labor Day weekend.
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