Little Brother's First Day of School

One down, two more to go.

Our middle child, or as we refer to him on social media (but not in real life, I promise) little brother, had his first day of Pre-K yesterday, and it was a success! We walked him to school in the morning with excitement and first day jitters brimming in all of us. It was a comfortable, almost fall-like morning, which was a nice break from the 90 degree weather we’ve been having lately and made the trek there all the more enjoyable (because is there anything better than fresh, cool air?).

He was still in a deep sleep when I woke him up an hour earlier than usual. He is always so squishy and sweet and cuddly first thing in the morning that I almost always feel bad for waking him up (unless we have somewhere to be, we always let the kids wake up naturally and come downstairs when they’re ready).

When he did come down, PJ printed out the cutest little sign for his first day of school! He did the same thing for our oldest when he started kindergarten last year and I love that he thinks to do that. Something like that weirdly wouldn’t have even crossed my mind, but PJ has always been so good about documenting their milestones.

He’s kept a height chart on a piece of wood for over a year now (another thing I wouldn’t have thought to do until years later) and it’s so fun to see how much they’ve grown in such a short amount of time. PJ loves to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments and the big moments in their lives and I so love that about him.

I don’t know what I was expecting exactly, but the drop off was a little…anti-climactic? Once we got there, we said our goodbyes with a few quick hugs and air kisses and that was that. He ran inside and stood in the doorway with his classmates to get ready for the day. It was so cute, though: When he got inside he just stared at the other kids for a bit, not saying anything verbally, but saying everything with how big and curious his eyes were as he took the excitement of seeing other people his age (and the realization of not being around us all day) in.

When I picked up him later on that day, the first thing he did was run into my arms and give me the biggest hug. “I missed you so much!” I melted. “I made good choices today!” I then proceeded to melt again. He said he had a great day and that he played with magnets and also at the park (which is 4 year old speak for playground) and made some friends. I asked him what his friends names were and he couldn’t tell me, but it’s only the first day! We’ll get there. We’re still working on him remembering his teacher’s name.

As we walked in the front door we were greeted by all our animals, and he started giving them all the biggest hugs and goofily messing around with them like he had been gone for days instead of just six hours. I found myself smiling and thinking how much he’s gong to change and grow now that he’s around other kids his age and a different adult authority figure all day. And that applies to all three of them. They’re all going to learn so much this year from people other than us and I cant help but feeling excited about that, because then we’re going to learn things, too, and it will be this whole new experience for all of us from here on out.

It’s morning again and the house is quiet as I drink my coffee. I'm about to wake our oldest up to get him ready for HIS first day of school today (and then little sis starts next week)! Now he is probably the most excited about starting. He’s a social butterfly and craves people and attention and crafts and all the things, so school for him is a good time, the best time, in fact.

Onto the next!!