First Day of Preschool

Somebody did not want to go to 'big boy school' today.  I think this photo pretty much sums it up.

For the past few days, I've been talking about what a big boy he is, and that pretty soon he was going to go to a big boy school. It was all very theoretical, and he nodded along and made brief comments like, "yeah." I didn't really see the point in overdoing it.

Wednesday was our last day at the school Turbo has been at since he was 12 months old. He's now almost 3. For an entire year, he's been with one of the best teachers around. I got pretty choked up to say good-bye to her. If Turbo were just going to a new classroom, it wouldn't have been the tearful, huggy farewell that it was, but today Turbo not only started preschool, he did it at a new place he'd never been to before.

Turbo is not a lover of new environments. He takes a while to warm up, which is totally OK and kind of endearing. So, I knew I'd have to be a little bit of a Pollyanna to show my enthusiasm and hope he'd ride that wave of good cheer.

Yesterday, while saying good-bye to Miss Aura, I told Turbo he'd be going to a new 'big boy' school tomorrow. That's when his tune changed. His "yeah" turned to an emphatic, "no!" And not just once either.

Usually Dad drives Turbo to school (and I take in Smiley - oh, the joys we'll have when they are both at the same school!). This morning I told Turbo I was going to take him to school. Didn't mention the new school, but he was onto me. These are the types of comments I heard throughout the morning:

"I don't want to go to new school."

"I want to stay here with you." and "You want to stay here with me?"

"I don't want the new boy Turbo school." <-- this was my favorite. :)

I'll skip forward here a bit because it took forever to get him dressed this morning. It was like trying to put clothes on cooked spaghetti. If he wasn't running away from me, he was sliding down the floor, or the stairs, or in any other form that prevented the clothes from making their way to his body. I wondered briefly if the school has a 'clothing optional' policy, but in the end we found success. Good thing I told my work crew I'd be in a little late today.

We arrived in the parking lot of the shiny new building. I turned off the car, turned my can-do, smiling face toward the back seat and was greeted with a narrow-eyed boy saying, "This gonna be bery, bery bad."

Smile, mama. Don't show any doubts in your decision to yank your kid out of his comfortable world. You're doing the right thing. He'll be fine.

Me: "Turbo, it's going to be so great! You get to run around outside, and ride trikes!"

Nothing.

I tried again: "They have fish! You want to go see fish?"

His eyes lit up, "Yeah! A green fish?"

"Sure, let's go!" oh, please let them have a green fish.

I came around to Turbo's door, unbuckled the little cutie, and we headed toward the front doors, hand in hand. After a couple of tentative steps, he paused.

"I think it's gonna be really, really, really... happy."