School Days

Both Gabriel and Ariana have been eagerly anticipating this time for a while. Ari was not quite so verbal about it, but you could see it in the eager, almost panting way she greeted me each morning when I got her out of bed, all grinning from ear to ear and rolling over to face me dead on. You knew she was wondering if that day was the day that I would take her back to preschool. And two Wednesdays ago it was. Well, actually, for her it was supposed to be that Monday, but dear old mom forgot that we had a revised school schedule and accidentally showed up with Ari on Tuesday, backpack in hand, bright eyed and bushy tailed to a near-empty classroom. I had missed her first day! Oh, I was brokenhearted, and she whined at me and complained the whole way back to the car, as if to say “Why are you taking me home? It’s time for school!” But, Wednesday, we got it right. And was she ever happy about it too! Happy to see her same, wonderful teacher from last year, Ms. Jacci, and her favorite aid, Miss Carrol; excited to see all her friends and to be independent… even if it is just for two and a half hours three days a week. She didn’t even look back. I had to steal my goodbye kisses from her, because she was so enthralled in everything else that’s so much more interesting in her classroom. After all, she can get Mommy kisses anytime. School time? Now, that’s special!

Ari has been in school for two weeks now, which equates to seven classes. I want to mention that she has only had one accident during class in that whole time. I am thrilled with her potty training progress! I don’t want to get overly optimistic, because she may choose to resist me whenever she wants, and it wouldn’t be the first time, but I really am proud of her, and her teachers are too. She never ceases to amaze me!

While Ariana is an old pro at school by now, since she’s been attending since her third birthday; this is a whole new world for Gabriel. One he has been ready for since Ari started at hers. Every time we would go to pick up or drop off Ari from preschool, he would ask me “Hey Mom, can I go to my preschool?” And I would try to give him a general idea of when it would be, getting closer and more specific as the date neared. For a while, I told him that he could go to preschool when he learned to go potty all by himself -- he was potty trained, but I meant the complete process from pulling down/up the pants to having good aim to hand washing. When he mastered that, I told him that preschool would start “next month”, then “next week”, until the day finally arrived… yesterday.

Excitement, anticipation, eagerness to please, and a little nervousness were some of the feelings that I could see in Gabriel that first day. Or was that me? He, like his twin sister, met his teacher and his classmates with friendly greetings and smiles and didn’t once beg for Mom. Gabe happily but cautiously tried to follow directions from his teacher, Mrs. Gale, while he explored the classroom. And when I picked him up? The first thing to reach my ears was the sound of his proud little voice asking, “Mom, can I go again?”. I couldn’t be more proud of him.

Ari sits in circle time with her classmates.

Getting right to work.

Last week, we had a play date with his carpool companions, Miles and Caleb, and he made instant buds with them. Finding out that his playmates would be at preschool with him was just the icing on the cake.