[SKL]

My girls started today (together in the same class) - we are transitioning into afternoons first (3 days), then next week it will be all day. I stayed with them today.

My younger dd (2.5) was standoffish at first, but after maybe 20-30 minutes, she was into the thick of things. She even tried to help a more experienced student with hand washing.

Elder dd (will be 3 in October) was very shy and did not play with or speak to anyone (except me) for about the first hour. (She spent a lot of time in the bathroom - reminds me of myself when I feel awkward in social gatherings! Hee hee!) Later when they had free play, she gradually loosened up and played alongside others, and told the teacher her name. Upon leaving, she hugged a friendly little girl upon request. I guess this was as much as I could have expected given her personality, but I am wondering whether she will be ready for me to "leave her" without a lot of fuss come Tuesday. (She has been clingy and irritable for much of this week - which means she's feeling insecure about something.)

A cute little African-American girl informed me that I was not the girls' mom since white ladies only have white kids. I just said "not always" and I don't think my kids heard. It's interesting, though, that this became a topic of conversation within the first hour of preschool. I guess I need to be prepared to discuss this with my daughters. (Not sure exactly how yet!)

So tell me, what is typical for a preschooler's first few days? Does anyone have any fun, interesting, or scary stories?

[CEB]

Sounds lilke an overall successful day!

DS starts on the 14th - I will let you know how it goes. I expect him to have some separation issues at first - he is pretty social and shares/plays well with other kids...as long as at least one of his mommy, daddy or nanny is in sight. He still gets uptight/upset if he cannot see one of us. We are reading books about first day at school, talking alot and trying to prepare him.

[HopeandaPrayer]

This is a very timely post as I just dropped off my 2 year old at pre-school for her first day of school. I was worried that she would have a melt down as she is very attached to me and I have been home with her everyday since she came home in October of 2008. However, to my my suprise and delight she raced into the room and did not even look back. I think it really helped that she saw her room and met her teachers on Tuesday. Also, her 4 year old big brother goes there and I think that helped as she wants to do everything he does.

She will only be going two days a week for 1/2 a day but I think it will do her a world of good to interact with other children her own age.

[akasohappy]

Kate started preschool this week. She did amazingly well! She has really suprised me with how social she is starting to be (all of this happened in the last month).
She has seen her new teacher a few times this summer at the park, playdates, etc. so that helps and of course the preschool she attends is at our church so overall for us it is a PERFECT situation and we are all very happy.
Hope all of your little ones do as welll with the transition to preschool.
I never would have thought 3 months ago that she could start preschool and do so well.

[krafmatic]

Well, my little guys start on the 8th (next Tuesday). They even get picked up by a bus!

I expect lots of tears from both. Ian will settle in fairly quickly I think, but Gabe will need to be carried up the steps and put in the restraints. God bless the driver and her assistant! I'm really hoping the settle in time for them is measured in days or just a few weeks as opposed to months, but when the boys started a spec. ed. program in January Gabe cried non stop from the time we pulled into the parking lot until we pulled out (1.5hrs later) for TWO MONTHS.

My two big goals for this semester: 1. They each smile at least once during class 2. They initiate a "conversation" with someone at school.

Time will tell!

[Jerry's Sheila]

My little guy started Monday. Seemed to think getting on the van was great fun. Was all excited about ABCs(school) very happy when got home except his new little friend got to stay on the Bus/van. However, got note from teacher the very first day that he would rather play than sit. Get real lady he is 3 and has never been to school and plays hard all day instead of sitting in front of the TV or computer. So far he likes to go except the big community bathroom. Loves his van/bus driver all I hear is Rose......and he fake cries if it is not her van. I hope all continues well.

[SKL]

The girls' 2nd and 3rd afternoons went well. Shy Girl is opening up and having fun. One of the older kids informed me that "the one with the glasses is smart!" Well, I think she was the first person Shy Girl had spoken to in 3 days of school, but OK! On Thursday they had their first dance class (dance teacher comes to the school) and after a stand-offish start, it went really well. I was also able to leave them in their preschool class for a long stretch with no fuss. So far I am really pleased at how things are going, though the real test will be Tuesday, when I leave them to spend a full day at school.

Another interesting conversation on Thursday. All the nearby kids were talking about what their daddies' names were. My kids kept quiet (they know what a daddy is, but we have never talked about the fact that they don't have one). Hours later, they were playing with a "mailbox" and kept saying, "there's no mail today, Daddy," over and over. Looks like we may need to talk about the Daddy thing as well as the "white mommy - brown daughter" thing fairly soon. I don't mind it, but I was a bit surprised that so many "issues" came up in the first two days of preschool.

Keep the experiences coming - I think many of us have our kids starting preschool this year, and it's great to hear everyone's stories.

[SKL]

Originally Posted by Jerry's Sheila

his new little friend got to stay on the Bus/van. However, got note from teacher the very first day that he would rather play than sit.

Ha ha, that's pretty funny! Wouldn't it be more unusual if a 3-year-old boy would rather sit than play?

I haven't gotten any "notes" yet because my kids are not officially paying customers until Tuesday. But I can see it now . . . "DD2 says 'no' a lot" (she seems to think that is really funny this week); "Does DD1 speak at all?"; "DD2 really has a thing for playing in the water"; "DD1 takes too long to eat, and what's with the wad of food in her cheek that she takes an hour to chew and swallow?" So much to look forward to! I figure, if the kids were already perfect, they wouldn't need to go to school, would they?

[jcmc]

My daughter is 4 and went to preschool fo rthe first time this year. She loves it so far. She went right in and had no issues, after she stopped and asked "what time will you be back to get me??" She only goes for 2 hours a day.

[LISAKAYE]

Carter's first day is today. Hoping all goes well.
He told me last week that he was going to cry!! Golly, let's hope he's forgotten that.

[SKL]

Finally the 1st "official" day of school. Didn't arrive until after 11am because of conference calls! Can you believe lunch was already over, and they were settling down for nap already? Had to dig some cereal bars out of my trunk - lucky I had them, as I usually don't - and then took the girls back in for their first at-school naptime. Hung around peeping in the classroom window from time to time, but my older daughter had her eye on the window and every time she saw me she smiled & waved. I figured that wasn't conducive to naptime, so I left.

Wow, I just found out how much I can get done in 1.5 hours with nobody else in the house! Woo hoo! I feel like I'm rediscovering myself a little bit.

Oops, here comes a call from work! Back to the grind!

[CEB]

I promised to come back with an update after Curtis' first day of school (today) - and the bottom line is alls well that ends well.

He was excited about school in theory - picked out his clothes and everything. But when he say other parents leaving the classroom he had a little meltdown - crying. velcroed onto my leg and saying "mama no. mama dont leave me. mama its not ok". But once I managed to actually separate from him, I could watch through a back window and saw that he recovered quickly and was playing nicely with some playdough. DH picked him and said Curtis came over, gave him a hug and went right back to playing with his classmates (did not want to leave). Curtis told me he wants to go to school again. YEAH!

Overall - definitely harder on me than him (I cried off and on at work all day when I thought of the morning scene) but in the end we are all good!

[mkinzie]

DD is doing well but still clings and sometimes cries in the morning. She went for about 1/3 of last year so this was nothing new but she didn't go over the summer. I have been giving her something special to show the teacher every morning for about a week now. Today's "special" was glitter lip gloss. She still was clinging for a moment but didn't cry. She went to show her and was ok with me leaving. She's fine after I leave, of course, but it makes me feel terrible when I leave. I keep telling myself that the day will come when she won't even care when I leave so I try to keep it in perspective. Sometimes I feel like I'm raising myself right along with her!