Day 1 of Pre-School

Take two.

We drove to the school. Dane was pretty excited. Once we got there, we played on the playground with the other kids for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then, one of his teachers announced that she was about to ring the bell, and that when she did that then all the parents would have to leave.

Dane helped her ring the bell.

We were all standing around the doorway of the classroom (between the class and the playground). I said to Dane, "OK, go sit on the carpet," which he did immediately and without protest. He didn't know what was coming! I looked at the teacher and said, "So... should I just go?" She said, "Yep! We'll call you if we have to."

I started to leave, and noticed that no one else was leaving. I felt kinda weird about not saying bye, but I knew it would be better that way. If I went in to say bye, and then left again I knew I would witness a melt-down of mythic proportions. As I was walking back to the parking lot, I continued to notice that no other parents were joining me. Looks like I'm the best listener in that group!

As I was getting into the car, I finally saw a few other parents coming around the corner.

I got a call at about 10:15. "Dane's doing OK... he's crying sporadically, but he cheers up now and then." They asked me if I'd come an hour earlier just so that he wouldn't be too overwhelmed the first day.

When I got there at 11:30, I peeked in the window and saw him sitting right next to his teacher, playing with play-doh and generally seeming fine. I went inside and he was happy to see me, but also seemed quietly guarded-- like, what is going on now?!

As we were driving home, I asked him probably a million and one questions about school. At first he answered, and then he just looked at me. "Can you stop talking about school?" he asked. Haha! Information overload.