Kaiser's First Day of Escuela!

Well, today was a BIG day -- for Kaiser and for Mommy. It was my firstborn's very first day of preschool! We've been talking about this in some capacity for months, and then much more seriously over the last several weeks and days. For a while, whenever I mentioned school, Kaiser would say, "And Mommy can come wit you!" I've been clear about explaining that Porter and I would drop him off and pick him up, but going to school was something he got to do all by himself because he was such a big boy. Fortunately, the kiddo seemed to like this idea. He was excited, and I was perhaps even more excited for him!

Adding to our sense of anticipation was the fact that Kaiser's "special backpack" arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon. (Way to go on waiting til the very last minute to order it, Mom!) My boy was super pumped to see it when he woke up from nap, and couldn't wait to show it off to Daddy when he got home from work that night. I filled it with a change of clothes and small gifts for his teachers, strapped his school tag on it, and we were ready to go!

We both woke up this morning in high spirits, partially because it was such an eventful day, and partially because Kaiser had stayed dry all night! (He's got potty training during waketime hours down pat, but nighttime is a work in progress...) He and I talked all about what he would do that morning as the three of us sat down and ate a healthy breakfast. 

I thought we were golden on time, but of course things like going potty, brushing teeth, changing a poopy diaper, etc. took a bit longer than expected, and soon I was rushing to grab my camera and take pictures before we left to get him to school by 9:00. First up, a shot of Kaiser and Baby Brother (whom Mommy won't be ready to send off for quite a while)!

Then we let Porter stand at the storm door and watch Kaiser pose for a few more than a few obligatory "First Day" photos in the front yard. Truth be told, one of the primary reasons I got the following pictures was because I offered to let him take a small bowl of grapes to eat on the ride to school. Totally worth it.

And, of course, what would a photo shoot be without the outtakes?

We quickly wrapped up, loaded in the car, and were off! Carpool runs from 8:55-9:05; we pulled in at 8:58 and waited in line for a few minutes. At parent orientation, they had said it was helpful for the students to be unbuckled, so I put the car in park, turned around to do that, and snapped a final pic of the kidlet before saying goodbye. 

Before we knew it, it was our turn! A nice parent volunteer came up, opened Kaiser's door, and helped him out of the car and inside. I wish I could have taken a picture of his sweet face --which was slightly confused despite my explanation about what would happen -- as he was lifted into her arms. He did so great! I didn't think I'd cry, but as I watched him take the hand of the preschool director and walk in those doors, I couldn't help but shed a few huge Mommy tears and mourn the loss of my baaaaby. (Who am I kidding? School or no school...underpants or diapers...he'll always be that!)

It was eerily quiet on the drive home. As soon as we got back to the house, I put Porter down late for his morning nap, and while he rested I got just a few things done -- all the while, of course, wondering how things were going for Kaiser. It actually wasn't too long before I got to find out; during the month of September, they release the 2-year-old classes a half hour early, so dismissal was at 11:00. I woke Porter and fed him some of his bottle, and then we happily turned around to go pick Big Brother up!

Kaiser had a huge grin on his face as his teacher walked him out to our car. When I asked him if he'd had fun, he said, "Yes I sure did!" Mrs. S said that he'd done great, was very complaint, and was going to be her little helper this year. She also told me that he'd gone to the bathroom twice and only needed a little bit of help with using the potty. Hooray! As I got him buckled in and we drove away, I asked Kaiser some more about school. It didn't surprise me one bit when he informed me that they'd eaten a snack: "I had some cwackers and juice and some mowe cwackers and some mowe juice!" He also said they'd read a book about the first day of school and a book about animals (not sure about those titles). He told me he'd held the hands of "two grails" on the way out to the playground, where he'd played in the sand. When I asked him about going potty, he said he hadn't known how to turn on the water to wash his hands, so he'd asked, "May I have turn on da water peese?" I don't know about you, but to me it sounded like a good time!

Since it was such a special day, I tossed out the idea that we go to the Waterfront to stop at a store, and then eat at Chick-fil-a for lunch. It didn't take much arm-twisting to get Kaiser to agree to that. :) I had brought along food for Porter, but my boy and I each enjoyed chicken nugget kids meals.

After we finished eating, I took the kiddos into the play area for some fun, and fun they had. Most of the time, we had the space to ourselves. They both had a ball pressing the buttons on the wall that played different noises, and climbing around and inside the little treehouse they have there. Kaiser was feeling particularly imaginative and kept asking if I wanted to take a train to Oklahoma and to Denver, then handing me my tickets to get on board. Porter was on cloud nine cruising around, climbing up the ramp that led into the treehouse, and just feeding off of his brother's energy.

In the handful of times that we've been there before, Kaiser has never felt adventurous enough to climb up into the equipment that is high overhead. Today when I first suggested that he try, he shot me down. Then, he climbed up part of the way, but came back down. Once another boy came in and showed interest in it, he finally decided to go for it, and soon enough was in the tunnel above us, looking down on Mommy and Porter! He had fun playing with the musical toy and spinning gears that are up there in one section, but opted to climb back down rather than brave the twisty slide. There's always next time...

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and soon it was time to say goodbye to Chick-fil-a and head home for naptime. Kaiser was so worn out from his big morning that he didn't mind one bit, and has been solidly sleeping for the past three hours. :) 

All in all, I don't think we could have asked for a better "First Day" experience. I'm not naive enough to think that every day will be easy, but I'd say we're off to a great start! Looking forward to Friday already!