Ben's first day of preschool!

Today was Ben's first day of preschool! I had *no* idea what kind of behavior to expect from him... he was very, very excited about the whole thing, but he had also been pretty clingy on the "Meet the Teacher" day. We worked very hard to set him up for success. We got a special breakfast (muffins from DD), we packed some favorite food for snack, we talked up feeding the class pets (guinea pigs) and sent along a snack for them... he even got to wear a special first-day shirt, courtesy of his Uncle Dave and Aunt Sharon. We picked everything out the night before, and on the morning of the big day, it was all just moving along the assembly line: get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes, get out the door - wait! snap a picture! - get in the car, you know the deal. I actually intentionally slept in a little that day so that there would be no 'down time.' Here's Ben right before we left:

Aaaaand, the car ride. I think he is looking a little stressed, not too bad. I was feeling the time crunch that I had intentionally created (after all, if you get there too early, you just stand around thinking about how you want to go home with Mommy after all). I realized I was rushing and had to intentionally slow down. Thankfully Ben requested I sing some of Rick Charette's Alligator in the Elevator*, which is a fast-paced song, so it covered MY nerves as we drove to school. I also sang a little Preschool Musical. Ha ha ha.
"Come ON, Mom, I just want to go inside!" I was trying to capture all these photo ops without being 'that mom' who has to get EVERYthing. I allowed myself only one picture at each place. :) Remember, Matt was on my hip, and the camera was in and out of my pocket...
Here's Ben at his cubby... totally distracted by the influx of toddlers around him. He was a little more stressed at this point, kind of digging in his heels and clinging to my leg. We had coached him through this part, though: "You're going to take off your coat and hang it up, you're going to put your snack in the big basket, and then we're going into your room." He did great.
When we got to the door, Ben handed his teacher the snack we'd brought for the guinea pigs and a picture of himself. Thank goodness Josh had insisted on a great picture of Ben with a fish he'd caught all by himself, because as the teacher made over what a great catch it was, Ben cracked a tiny smile.

Here's where you've got to cut me some slack... I was trying to get a picture of Ben choosing his name from the blackboard, but somewhere in the process of getting the camera out of my pocket, I had inadvertently switched to the video setting. So, we get this sideways video:

I realized my mistake and tried to catch the picture, but it was too late. All I got was this:

Ben wasn't too into the idea of sitting down and playing with Play-Doh or doing a puzzle, and I was starting to worry... I'd told him he could feed the guinea pigs, but I wasn't sure what the class routine was. Lucky for me, one of the teachers came right over and said, "Ben! Would you like to feed Pumpkin and Brownie?" He lit right up and took her hand to go feed the guinea pigs. I would love to have captured a picture of that, but I recognized that as my moment to escape, so I kissed him on his head and said goodbye and made a quick exit........ and then cried all the way to the car. :( I was so thankful to have Matt to distract me! We went to the story hour at the library and I enjoyed some one-on-one time with my second son, which is a rare treat.

I had promised Ben a special lunch if he did a good job on his first day, and he did! There was not one single tear, and I was told that he was very friendly to his classmates. So off we went to Nirchi's....
...where Ben had the time of his life. :)

Hooray for firsts!!

* There's an alligator in the elevator

I can't believe what I see

There's an alligator in the elevator

and he's making eyes at me!

Alligator! Please press! Number! One!

I'm going up to the first floor...

Would you care to join me for some fun?