First Day of School

Elsa and Lily on their first day of preschool. So far, so good. We're easing in gently. Yesterday, the girls had a 20 minute session where they got to meet the teachers and see the classroom. Today, I was one of two helping parents. So, I was there if they needed me. That was a trip: 2 teachers, 2 helping parents and 16 new 3-year-olds all on their first day. What a feat. I was so impressed by how well the entire class got along. Their teachers did a fantastic job. Everyone is learning the program: schedules, rules, names, etc. I was expecting lots of tears and screaming. But, that atmosphere was very mellow. And they all had fun doing things like trains, stamp art and dress-up.

Elsa and Lily joined into class activities very well. They hung out together at first and then separated more into doing different things. I was busy doing a lot of cleaning up/organizing. But, they didn't seem to have any problem following their teachers. They had a bit of trouble sitting still and being quiet in circle time. (I kind of expected that because they are always quite "energetic" at library story time). But, the teacher worked with them. She has a special ball that gets passed around when it is your turn to speak.

The only time they cried was when it was time to go home. They did the same thing yesterday, too. It was very difficult to get them to leave. I'll interpret that as a good sign. They calmed down when I suggested going out to lunch with Daddy to celebrate. So, we walked two blocks over to Mark's office where they got to tell him about their day.

Tomorrow, we're having a get to know the other families breakfast party on the playground. Then, Monday will be their first day totally on their own. But, I think they've had a nicely done transition week to get them used to the school.

They've started their first day of school. If they're anything like their Daddy, they only have 23 years to go!