Jack is off and running--preschool has begun! When Brett and I attended a preschool open house with Jack a few weeks back, our little boy was quite distraught. Meaning he had placed a stranglehold around my neck so strong that when I tried to let go of him, he continued to dangle from my body like a 30-pound, 37-inch-long necklace. (BLING.) I was ready to walk out the door and head back to our cocoon for another year.
The preschool teacher allowed me to sit with Jack and the other children on the floor while she read a story and sang a song. Within 15 minutes, Jack had moved off my lap and onto the floor on his own. Then the toys came out. Jack spotted a bucket brimming with toy cars. Jackpot! I moved to sit with the other parents and watched Jack as he introduced himself to another little boy with a confident, "Hi! My name is Jack!" They started crashing cars together.
What a proud moment. My son. Crashing cars. With another little boy his age. Within the span of a few minutes Jack has busted out of his cocoon and morphed into a social butterfly! Thank you, Hot Wheels, thank you.
On Tuesday, I took Jack to preschool for the real deal. We wrote his name in his backpack:
Headed out to the car:
And made it to school on time--all with no tears and no necklace:
It was not easy for me to leave Jack there--he's never been taken care of by anyone other than family. I teared up good. And I teared up when I was greeted like this upon my return:
Jacky, welcome to a whole new world--three days a week, two hours a day. I can only hope that as the weeks and months of your first school year roll on, you'll still want to come home to the cocoon and kick back with me.
Can't begin to imagine how tough it must be to let him go, even if only for a couple hours a day. What a wonderful way to end the day. Good luck to Jack. If he's anything like his Mama, he'll do just fine.
ReplyDelete