Austin's first day of preschool as a Bumblebee

Austin's first day of preschool was yesterday.  It was a busy morning.  We put Andrew on the bus at 7:50.  We rushed Austin off to speech at 8:00 (it was a makeup day), we came back home briefly, and rushed off again to his first day of preschool.  He will go every Tuesday and Thursday.  He was so excited, and he had a fabulous time. Austin is getting to be such a big boy!

Austin's Preschool Playdate

2 days after sending Andrew on the school bus for the 1st time, I took Austin to his preschool playdate at a local park.  It's an opportunity for the kids to meet the teachers and some classmates.  Austin is going to be a Bumblebee this year.  Both of his teachers are new to the preschool, but one of them happens to be the mother of one of Andrew's T-ball teammates, who we met over the summer.  She is very nice, and so is her co-teacher.  Austin knows most of his classmates from last year.  He starts preschool the Tuesday after Labor Day, and it will feel a little strange dropping him off by himself (he went with Andrew last year) after taking Andrew there for 4 years.  I know Austin can handle it and will be just fine.  He is getting to be such a big boy!  

back to preschool!

Today was the first day of Andrew's last year at Kid Central.  Today was Austin's first day at KC.  They walked in together hand in hand.  My heart absolutely melted watching Andrew be the great big brother that he is, showing Austin the way.  No tears were shed by anybody.  Austin experienced KC over the summer with their new summer program.  He also went to a Mom's Day Out program last year at a different school, so it's not like it was the first time I had dropped him off somewhere.  But, still.  This was a special 'first' day.  Andrew is already looking forward to Kindergarten and riding the school bus (possibly...still to be determined) next year.  He was beside himself with excitement last night and this morning.  He was seriously bouncing off the walls at 7:00 this morning.  Austin was also excited, but much more reserved.    

The token 'first day of preschool' pictures...

There they go!

They were all smiles (and yawns) afterwards.  They had a great first day!

Andrew's 3rd First Day of Preschool

Well, we've been here twice before (click here and here for a look back), but I can't help but post pictures of Andrew on his first day of preschool, even if it is for the 3rd time.  He still has one more year after this one before (I can hardly even say it) Kindergarten.  He was excited and he had a good first day.  I was worried about the class size with 16 kids because he was used to having 8 and 10 kids in his class, but so far it doesn't seem to be bothering him.  Andrew has a good friend, Max, that was in his class last year and he is also in his class this year.  Andrew has so far talked about Max and several of the girls (but he doesn't know their names).  Even tonight before bed when I reminded Andrew that he has preschool in the morning, he asked me, "Will the same girls be there?"  Very cute.

Back to School

Andrew began his second year of preschool yesterday. He is in the Butterflies class this year which is the "young 3's" class. It meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12. Last year when he started preschool I was a nervous wreck about his first day. This year, I was lucky I remembered to take him at all. I kept forgetting that preschool was starting!



Andrew was excited in the car and suddenly became a little shy when he got out, but he very willingly grabbed the teacher's with hardly a glance back at me.


This is what Andrew told me about his first day...

- "sang songs"
- "wheels on the bus song"
- "the march"
- "people playing on the cars"
- "worked on puzzles with Annalise"
- "The boys and girls are not dancing around"
- "I see the fishies. They were swimming in the water"
- "went round in circles with Jonah"
- "Jonah was doing the cars. He was racing them."
- "I play with books. I read them."

Half of those don't make sense to me either, but the important thing is he had fun and his teachers' said he had a smile on his face all morning.

last day of preschool

Wednesday was Andrew's last day of preschool for the year. His class had a tricycle parade and picnic which Loren and I were both able to attend. Andrew hasn't figured out how to ride his trike yet (or any for that matter). We can't get him to push the pedals! (It'll come...one day it will just click.) He borrowed one from his friend Kylie - a trike that has a long handle, so someone could push him. Genius, right? We felt sorry for Miss Kate who was pushing Andrew through the parade, so Loren took over. Andrew was livin' it up, but soon decided he wanted to get off of his trike and walk it around the roped off area. That lasted all of a couple of minutes when he realized it was more fun to run. The kids rode their trikes (or ran around) for awhile. After that they sang a few songs for the parents. Most of the kids were shy performing in front of us, including Andrew, but it was still cute. My favorite part was the one time Andrew came out of his shell while the kids were singing songs. The last song was more on the religious side, but I can't remember what it was. The only word I remember is, "Amen!!" because that was when Andrew got really excited and shoved his fist up in the air (see picture above) every time that line of the song came up. We also had a picnic lunch with the other parents and kids, and hung out for awhile. It was a gorgeous sunny day - a good way to wrap up the school year.

Lovin' Preschool

The past 2 weeks Andrew has walked out of preschool holding Miss Bethany's hand literally bouncing up and down excited to see me. But also because he just had a great 3 hours at preschool. Miss Bethany has come out laughing and has said the same thing 2 weeks in a row. "Andrew has so much fun and gets so excited about every little thing we do." It's so wonderful to know that Andrew loves his preschool. These were 2 pictures that Miss Bethany took during class today.

Preschool Thanksgiving Program (Nov. 25th)

This video is long, but oh-so-cute. Andrew's preschool class "sang" a few songs during the preschool Thanksgiving program. During the program I thought some of the kids were singing, but once I played the video back, I realized that all of the singing was coming from kids in other classes (in the audience). There was a big screen behind them that was noticed during their performance. Andrew very proudly pointed himself out and also called the big screen a tv. I was very impressed that Andrew stayed still up there. I had no idea what to expect from him. Again, it was oh-so-cute.

What a great report card!

Today when I picked Andrew up from preschool his teacher, Miss Bethany, said that he was all smiles the whole day (he hasn't cried at all the last 2 times I've dropped him off). She went on to say that he did really well during circle time and repeated everything the teachers' said...numbers, days of the week and even the months, and he repeated all of the kids names as they went around the circle!

I'm so proud of him! Andrew really likes to learn. Sometimes when I'm telling him something I catch him looking at me very intently like he's studying my every word. I have to be careful, though. Last night when I realized I forgot something I said, "Oh shoot" and guess what came out of Andrew's mouth right afterwards! Yep..."oh shoot." He said it once or twice this morning as well, so he didn't forget it overnight. He's a little parrot these days.

Andrew's first month of preschool

Andrew's teacher, Miss Bethany, takes pictures during class and emails them to the parents so we can see a little of what they did while they were there. I love that!

These are the pictures that Andrew showed up in. I only have pictures of the 1, 2 and 4th days (he only goes once a week). There weren't any good pictures of Andrew from the 3rd day. If you click on the collages, you can get a closer look at the pictures.

September 3rd - first day! Is Andrew doing yoga on the rug?


September 17th

September 24th

(I had to crop a couple of kids out of the last picture, so Andrew would fit into the collage.)

My Mommy

Melt my heart! When I picked Andrew up from preschool today, he walked out with a smile on his face and I could hear him quietly (and tiredly) saying "My Mommy, My Mommy" as he hurried towards me. He is so sweet.

First day of preschool

Today was Andrew's first day of preschool. I signed him up way back in February when registration started and all Spring and Summer I second guessed myself. I had doubts as to whether or not it was a good idea to send him to preschool at such a young age. Most kids entering a 2-year old class have to turn 2 by September 1st. This particular preschool has two 2-year old classes, a young 2's (turn 2 by January 1st) and an older 2's (turn 2 by September 1st). Andrew, of course, fits into the young 2's class. Up until about a month ago I questioned my decision to send him to preschool, but then I started to get more excited about it and I knew that it would benefit him in so many ways...at the very least it would be an opportunity for him to be around other kids his age and to (tear) separate himself from his Mama.

So, today was the big day. I didn't know what to expect from Andrew. I was excited and a little nervous about how he would react. The preschool's open house was a week ago and he met his teachers and saw his classroom, but I didn't know if it would be familiar to him today. When Miss Bethany came out to the car to get him (she comes out to each car as opposed to the moms dropping off the kids inside...it's easier on the kids that way) Andrew became really shy and turned away from her. Miss Bethany was great, though. She talked to Andrew, took his hand, and in a blink of an eye Andrew started walking towards his preschool, holding his teacher's hand, with barely a glance in my direction. He looked like such a big boy. Miss Bethany said he cried a little, but only after some other kids started crying, and it didn't last very long. Andrew had a great first day of preschool, and he was exhausted afterwards.

This was my attempt to get a nice picture of Andrew before leaving for preschool. He was trying to find a way to escape the backyard.


My baby heading off to preschool...