First Day of School - Preschool Edition

September 11th was Drew's official first day of preschool!!!  We had talked about it for months and he had always acted so excited.  Of course, in the week leading up to the first day, he started to get a little anxious.  Perhaps he was feeding off of his mother, because I was getting more and more nervous by the day.  :-/  Drew has been my constant sidekick for the past (almost) four years.  Thinking about sharing him with his teachers for a few hours twice a week was enough to make me have a few mini-panic attacks.  That boy has such a big chunk of my heart!

When Clayton was in preschool, we always read The Kissing Hand the night before school started.  Then we would make a fancy breakfast the next morning.  Clayton fed off of making it into a big deal - it made him more and more excited about the first day.  My very wise husband cautioned me against hyping up the first day of school to Drew.  I was sort of disappointed, but I know that he was exactly right.  Drew is a very different child than Clayton and all of that hoopla would have made him more anxious.

So, we didn't make it into a big huge ordeal.  We did, however, snap a few pictures before we left for school.  :)

Doesn't he look so big with his backpack???  He was laughing and seemed so happy about going to school.

He wrote his name (sort of) on the chalkboard.  I can't wait to see how his writing changes this year.  :)

We all went to drop Drew off - even Daddy.  We let Drew pick the music in the car to take his mind off of drop off.  He was all smiles until we got in the classroom...  I have no cute pictures of him sitting by his name card working on his first worksheet, because Little Mister lost his mind.  :(  He was sobbing, and it broke my heart.

I snapped one picture of his cubby before the tears started.

I hugged him quickly and left the room before I started crying, too.  Wade took one for the team and stayed in the room for a few minutes to try to soothe him.  Clayton came out of the room and said, "Mom he REALLY wants you.  He's screaming, 'Mommy!  Mommy!'"  Ugh - it took all that I had not to go back in that room and scoop him up and take him home.  :(

Mrs. Christi pried Drew from Wade's leg and sat him in her lap.  The chapel teacher went to check on him and said that he had already calmed down after just 5 minutes.  Thank goodness!  She said that Mrs. Christi was talking to Drew about his "short name" versus his "long name."  Apparently, he took one look at the "Andrew" on his paper and told Mrs. Christi that wasn't his name.  Ha!

Thankfully, the rest of the day went really well!  He was as happy as a lark when Wade picked him up.  He asked Wade, "Do I get to go to preschool again tomorrow?"  Yay!  He got the traditional first day of school Sonic happy hour treat and he was a happy fella.

I had to laugh when I asked Drew about his day.  I asked him if he remembered Mrs. Shanna and Mrs. Christi's names.  He said, "Yes!  They told me that if I call them 'Teacher', they are going to call me 'Kid'."  Ha ha!  His teachers have had sweet things to say every day when I have picked him up.  They have said that he is "always a sweet friend," that he is "hysterical," and that he "is a hard worker."  That sounds just like my Drew.  :)  

On the second day of school, Drew walked in like he owned the place.  One quick kiss and then he was off to sit at his table and do his morning work.  I'm so proud of him for adjusting so well!  I know that he is going to have a great year!