1st Day of (Pre)School

Yesterday, Lily and Jacob started preschool.



Lunchboxes in hand - along with bananas for breakfast in the car! Can't get over how similar their faces and even their banana grips are.



The cute little schoolhouse entrance:



Lily with her teacher (and her ever-changing number of hair ties):



Little boy in his big-boy classroom:



Of course, the first toys he pulled out were the cars and the car ramp:



Moving on to his second favorite toy - a ball!



Meanwhile, back at the ranch, little Samantha had the place all to herself:



I think she quite enjoyed herself ;)



When I went back to pick them up, lunch had just finished and all the half-day kids who stay for lunch were playing Ring Around the Rosie. You can see Lily and Jake next to each other.



I watched inconspicuously from the doorway for a few minutes. Every little girl wanted to hold Jacob's hand - uh oh! I think he's the kind of little boy that just looks like he needs help and mothering...sweet little Jacob. But he wasn't too sure about all these girls and was being particular about whose hand he wanted to hold (I heard much, "No hands! No hands!" haha).

The next thing I heard was big sister Lily, "I'll help you, Jacob! Jacob, I'll help you!" which just melted my heart. Not only did she notice he was agitated (and was not the SOURCE of his agitation), but she stepped in to protect him. SO CUTE!

Here's where they have lunch (that's the director, hanging out while they play):



I love that Jacob and Lily get to have lunch together and see each other for a little bit while at school, even though they're in different classes. That was a nice surprise - though that's a little more pressure on me to make sure their lunches are identical, because THEY WILL NOTICE.

Here's an e-mail I sent to a couple people yesterday:

The kids had a great start to their first day of school!

This morning, I made sure to remove the princess tattoo from Jake's arm and to brush any knots out of Lily's hair. They were both excited but a little sleepy since I had to wake them up to get them there on time. They each had most of a banana in the car - breakfast on the run (thanks, Aunt Ilse!) - but snack time at school is not long after they arrive (crackers, dry cereal, etc).

When I brought Lily into her class, for a moment she looked like she was going to panic, but then I told her I'd come right back for "special kisses" (fishy kiss - lips, eskimo kiss - nose, butterfly kiss - eyes) after dropping off Jacob, and she happily skipped away.

In his class, Jake immediately stripped out of his jacket and made a beeline for the cars (he had asked to bring one from home, but I assured him they'd most likely have a bunch of their own at school), where he happily ignored me and quickly said, "Bye!" when I went over to kiss him.

Back in Lily's class, she gave me kisses and then sat down with her teacher to write her name for labeling her cubby. The day before, she wouldn't say BOO to her teacher when I took her to pick up the registration packet, so I'm glad she met her beforehand and see her classroom and just have some time to process before starting today - I think that really helped.

Hopefully, they'll have a good time and have plenty to tell me on the car ride home!

They both loved it. On the way home, I pumped Lily for information. She told me she learned about the letter T, and when asked what starts with T, she shouted, "Tissue! Train!" and a moment later asked, "Does CHICKEN start with T?" Haha!

She didn't remember any names of kids in her class (or her teacher's name!), but she remembered what the book they read was about (cooking) and what she had for lunch and of course the letter T. Typical Lily...more interested in learning or in activities than in other individuals ;) It was a little harder to get information from Jacob b/c he's not nearly as communicative, but I know he had a great time and they were super excited to go back today.

I got a lot of work done at home, and the only negative was having to wake Sam up from her nap to go pick up the kids from school. Hopefully, we can get her used to starting her morning nap a littler earlier so that won't have to happen every time.

Just before we got home, Lily spotted a T on a road sign, and for some reason, her excitement at that road sign T confirmed in my mind any lingering doubt I may have had about our decision to start them in preschool. I couldn't have been happier.