"First Day of Preschool - K3"....

For nearly 4 years Elijah Brooks has been home with me 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.  But today, we both took a very big step and reached yet another milestone. He proudly put on his John Deere backpack, grabbed his new Star Wars lunchbox and thermos, and headed out to door to St. James United Methodist Church preschool. Jay and I have gone back and forth a hundred times about whether or not to send him to preschool. It seems you are really in the minority around here if your child is not in preschool, but we haven't ever been ones to do things just because everyone else is doing them - even if they are great and wonderful things.  In fact, we had him registered somewhere last year, and then pulled him out a month before it was about to begin for the year! We really wanted this to be the right thing for our child and for our family, and the right timing. After much prayer, this seems right, so we are going to try it out. If it works, great. If it doesn't, that's fine too. It's preschool :)  He will go MWF from 9 -1.  This church is literally 30 seconds from my house (I timed it today!), so both of us felt good knowing that we weren't too far away from each other. He will be turning 4 in November, but given the school cutoff, he is in the K3 class this year. There are 9 children in his class and he is a FULL head and shoulders taller than every one of them! In fact, when I walked him in the front door this morning, we were greeted by the music teacher and she said, "Hi there! Are you ready for your first day of Kindergarten"?  I said, "ummm, actually he is in the 3 year old class".  She smiled sweetly and said, his class is down the hall to the left! 

We have been talking about "school" for awhile now, just trying to prepare him. He, like his momma, likes to be prepared for the next thing - no surprises please. This morning he climbed in bed with us about 6:30, snuggled up next to me and said, "I'm kind of anxious today".  I asked him why and he said he was anxious about going to school.  We had a sweet little talk together about how God created him to be exactly who he is, and he doesn't need to try to be anything or anyone that he is not when he goes to school - but just be himself.  Ironically, I found out later today that his bible verse for the month at school is "I am wonderfully made by God".  We talked about loving God and loving others and he seemed to not be as anxious. Actually, I think knowing that he was going to get to take his new Star Wars lunchbox eased the nerves more than my profound talk about loving God!  Oh well, I tried.  He wanted to help me pack his lunch, and of course, had to get his daily pack of fruit snacks - today he chose, "Angry Bird" fruit snacks.  I didn't really have time to make any kind of special breakfast, but managed to put some apple cinnamon muffins in the oven for him and he was happy about that. After breakfast, he was begging me to go upstairs and play cars with him before he had to get dressed, so Ellison and I headed upstairs with him and we played for about 30 minutes before we had to get dressed. We snapped a few pictures outside, and I could hardly believe what I was seeing through the camera lenses - when did my baby boy get so big?  Instead of going through the carpool line on the first day, Ellison and I walked him in to his classroom. He had already talked to his new teacher, "Miss Susan", on the phone (he asked if he could talk to her - that's my boy), so he was kind of prepared to meet her. She immediately welcomed him with open arms and took him to his "cubby".  She asked him if he could find his name, and he did - he took off his backpack and put it and his lunchbox in his cubby. He then found a bucket of dinosaurs on the floor and wanted to play with them, but she said he could play with them during "circle time".  She showed him to his seat at the table and he started playing with a "Mr. Potato Head" toy - but was still pretty persistent in asking her if he could play with the dinosaurs!  I asked his teacher a few last minute questions, hugged him and turned to leave.  He has never been an overly emotional child - no tantrums on the floor, no screaming when I leave him, always very logical etc....., so I really did not anticipate him having any problems when I left.  And thankfully, I was right.  He hugged me and then went right back to his seat at the table.  I prayed and prayed and prayed for him, ALL morning.  Once I got back in the car, the tears started pouring, and then I found myself sobbing.  I was crying yes, because this was a big step and I was so proud of him - so proud of who this little boy is and who he is becoming - but also because today my niece Bradford started K4....., but she didn't have her mommy to walk her in. She didn't have her mommy to fix her hair on the first day of school. She didn't have her mommy pack her lunch. She didn't have her mommy to pray with her and tell her it's all going to be okay.  Thank GOD that she had her amazing grandmother, Bebe, with her.  Mom, I am SO glad that you were with her this morning.

Well, another long story made alittle shorter - I picked him up at 1:00 and he was so sweaty, dirty, and exhausted!  But, he seemed to have a great 1st day.  He wanted to call Bradford when we got home, so the two of them talked for at least 20 minutes on the phone and I learned more about his day eavesdropping on their conversation!  That was precious.

I absolutely LOVE that he wanted to wear his "Larry the Cucumber" watch from Veggie Tales! I really wish I knew how to change the time on that watch to make it correct!

Miss Susan 

Here is to a great start of a new adventure - for both of us!