First Day of School!

"When I grow up I want to be a Fireman."

As I write this M has actually completed two weeks of "school" so the bonus of the blogger issues and my procrastination is that I will get to update you on two weeks worth of stuff.  If you are curious about M's "school" click HERE to read about our Classical Conversations decision. 

M was so excited when he woke up the morning of the big day.  He could not wait for H to get here to watch T.  He was excited about his striped shirt and his backpack and his snacks and really everything related to CC.  I thought this was a good sign.  While he was waiting for H to come he said, "I hope she comes soon I really want to learn."  This was quite a switch from the orientation.

Charissa and L came over to help with the separation for T.  She did great.  T is pretty secure in her attachment and is doing so well with my time away.  She does much better with it than me, that is for sure.

Once arriving at CC, M stayed close to me, but still very much showed that he wanted to be there.  He was not too interested in sitting in the chair that he was assigned, but his awesome teacher (well they call them tutors, but I call them teachers... shhh, don't tell) let me sit right next to him the whole time.  He was not very interested in participating, but I did notice him to hand gestures to songs a couple of times.  This gave me hope.  He was very interested in eating snack and lunch almost from the beginning.  The class is fast paced, but any moment of down time was enough to get him thinking.

The Science experiments were done outside.  This was very hard for M as he wanted to just run home.  He attempted a couple of times actually.  He had a lot of harder moments.  Fine Arts was the worst.  M does not like to draw, at all, so he was just interested in leaving by that point.  He escaped at least 4 times and had to sneak snacks and water throughout.  He did also spend quite a bit of time on my lap, but we made it through and I was thankful for that.

The amazing bright spot in the day was presentation time.  M LOVES presentation time.  Even though he acts so very shy, he can't wait for his turn in front.  Presentations are basically a version of show-and-tell.  The first week they just had to say their name and a few things about themselves.

Here is what M said:

"Hi, my name is M___________ and I live next door and my friend is Charissa and I love my grandma and grandpa."

He then wanted to sit down, but the teacher encouraged him to ask if anyone had any questions and they did and he answered them all.  He was quite influenced by the questions and answers of others in his class.  He said that his favorite toy to play with was airplanes (it is actually football) and his favorite food was pasta (it is actually casserole).

So all in all the first week went far better than orientation and I felt OK with the end of things.  That night just before bed I got the most lovely and encouraging email from M's teacher.  It was the kind of email that I should print and keep forever.  I am so thankful of this incredible woman.

It turns out, even with all the lap time and the escapes and then snack sneaking he was doing well.  I was being an overachieving mom and he is right on track for his age.  Whew... and yahoo!  The message gave me peace and help me see the above realities of his behavior and adjustment from the lens of a more seasoned mom who knew that it would get easier and he was doing great.  

Yesterday went even better than the first week (Opps, should have posted this a week ago... tomorrow it will be CC again).  He managed to hang with the group (more or less) all the way until Fine Arts.  He started to get very whiny and hungry etc.  Grammar review was pretty brutal and he did need to leave the room for quite a while.  Apparently he was too tired to jump up and down like the other kids so he laid down on the ground and of course got his fingers stepped on.  When you are tired and hungry, getting your fingers stepped on is a majorly awful thing.  Still overall, it was a much better week.  T did great too and got to go to story time with H.  I am so envious that H gets to have that special time with her, but at the same time I am thrilled for both of them to have this special thing to do together on Tuesday mornings.