Oh, how they grow up so fast. I admit that I have been incredibly nervous leading up to this day. Would he cry? Would he cling to my leg? Would he refuse to go? I had been prepping him for weeks, telling him about what to expect at school, and mentioned it daily. That morning, we got ready and needless to say, I think I was more nervous than he was. We left our house at 8;45am, got there within 5 minutes and waited outside as the doors were locked (Kasen tried to open them). Finally the doors open at 9:00am - and we saw several toddlers clinging to their moms, eyes puffy and crying. Aww!
We were probably the second parent/toddler pair to walk into the school - Kasen looked around, wide eyed trying to figure out where to go. We finally found his classroom - I introduced myself to the teacher and helpers, and Kasen already wandered away, making a beeline for the lego table with all of the animals. Let's say I didn't expect him to be so comfortable right away. I lingered a little while, but he still paid me no mind! He washed his hands with one of the teacher's helpers, then stood in the middle of the room trying to figure out if he wanted to play with the pretend ice cream scoops or play with the playmobil animal pens. To my surprise he walked over to the pretend ice cream to play with four other little toddler boys - I kissed him on the cheek, and said Kasen, mommy is leaving now, I will pick you up later, ok? I love you! Kasen whispered back, eyes still trained on the ice cream,"Ok, bye mommy." I rushed out, trying to hold back tears.
When I walked down the hall and into the parking lot, I felt strange. Liberated in someways because I was thrilled he was fine but sad because he didn't even throw a fit that I was leaving. My little boy is growing up. And it goes to show how starved he was for more human interaction with other kids, and how eager he was to learn.
I picked him up later that morning with my mom - he looked so dazed and tired, I imagine from the constant activity - and as two other toddler boys in his class began to cry as they saw their mothers, in slow motion I saw Kasen's face scrunch up and he began to cry too =P I laughed. Is that bad of me? Because I know he was crying because the other kids were ha! The teacher sympathetically said to me as I was signing him out that he had had a good day - and I told her not to worry, that I expected this :)
He perked right up after I told him I had a surprise though - one of those Ninja Turtle Mash 'Ems! He was delighted. I figured I should associate his experience at school with something that is fun and rewarding. I know he's not a dog, but positive reinforcement never hurts!
As we got into the car, this was the discussion we had:
Me: Kasen, did you eat your snack?
Kasen: I had my go fa cha (chrysanthemum tea)!
Me: How about your snacks? Did you eat your snacks? How about your apple?
Kasen: My apple was too sweet mommy.
Me: How about your pretzels? Did you eat your pretzels?
Kasen: No mommy. My pretzels were too old.
Oh my goodness. There's no reasoning with a 3 year old. And mind you the pretzels were just dropped into a snack size plastic baggie that morning!
I also ran a ton of errands that day with regards to our zoning appeals decision and wetlands decision, resulting in me being ping ponged back and forth between Town Hall and the Registry of Deeds. After everything was done and recorded Kasen didn't want to go home, so I took him to Cabot's Ice Cream for a special treat. It seems that his favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip!
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