Second Day of Preschool

Today was Dylan's second day of preschool. I was much less emotional today. :) As we got into the carpool line I let him out of his seat and he climbed into the front with me. I let him sit in my lap and help me drive all the way up to the dropoff. He thought that was so much fun! When the preschool director came to our car to get him, he went right to her and got out. He held her hand and walked into school just like a big boy. He never turned around to look back but he did wave bye-bye very sweetly to me without looking. While Dylan was in school, I went to workout and I got to do a much appreciated Target shopping trip without Dylan in tow and that was fun. When I went to pick him up he looked like he had been crying. The teacher said he did great all day until they started talking about getting ready to go home and then he got all upset. She said she thought it was because he remembered about mama but I think it was because he didn't want to leave. When he got in the car he got to ride in my lap for a bit until we got into a parking spot. We stopped and looked over his folder and the stuff he brought home today. There was a card in there from the teacher with his picture on the front. Very sweet. :)

On the way home we passed by Dairy Queen and he pointed and said, "I Keen!" (ice cream) I was so amazed because we have only been to Dairy Queen a handful of times but he still recognized it and knew what it was. He also recognizes McDonald's and Chick Fil A and says, "Chick-En." He has had that a lot more though... He is really saying new words every day. He knows to ask for treats with "Pees" and says "Mo" for more. Since he started school he calls goldfish crackers "fishys" but before they used to be "crackys." His teacher told me they had goldfish for snack time on the first day. Ever since then he has been asking for them ALL the time. Some other recent new words are "showwoo" for shower, "tawoo" for towel, "brekkee" for breakfast, "up high" when he wants me to pick him up or put him on the counter, "nuh-er one" for another one, "gahn" for all gone, "Queen" for Lightning McQueen from Cars (his favorite movie), "muh-key" for monkey (he usually says this about Curious George). He has a ton of others too but these are the most common.

I have noticed an interesting and welcome change in Dylan this week. For the last month or so he has been super clingy and ornery. He was sick a lot with first goopy eyes, then a cold, then a stomach virus and then a cold again. I think not feeling well made him want to be clingy and contributed to his orneryness. He has been doing a lot of screaming and endless tantrums and I was starting to feel extremely frustrated and exhausted with the constant whining, screaming and tantrums. However, there has been a miraculous change in him this week since he started school. He has been soooo angelic! Super sweet, minds really well, talks a lot, and is just so much fun to be around now. I feel like I have gotten my sweet boy back. I think the school experience has contributed to this because it's the only thing that changed this week. It must be the social outlet is doing him well. I really hope this continues.

Tomorrow we are going to the Yellow Daisy Festival with Granna and Tricia. I am so very excited. I've been looking forward to this for months!

First Day of Preschool

I have been meaning to start this blog for so long but finally decided today was the day. The reason? Well today Dylan started preschool. I feel this is a very momentous day so might as well be the first day of my new blog. He just turned 2 on August 12 and he is really growing up fast. He is going to preschool at Cumming First United Methodist Church Preschool. I have heard so many great things about this school from several friends and neighbors, so I have great confidence that he is in good hands and will simply have a blast every day that he is there. Yet I do still have a lot of sentimental emotions about my baby growing up and becoming more independent. I wish I had a few more months of Dylan and Mama time before he had to go to school. Not that he *had* to go, but I think it is good for him. He is so outgoing and loves being around other kids so much, I think it will be an amazing social outlet for him that I simply can't duplicate alone. His first day today went really well. Ok, it went well once he got to school. But it didn't start out the best. He woke up at 6:45AM screaming. Jason went to get him as he usually does but Dylan didn't want anything to do with him today. I had to go in there before he would even get up out of bed. The whole morning getting ready was one long tantrum after another. We went back to bed for a little bit and when I had to get up he screamed. When we went downstairs to eat, he screamed through breakfast. He screamed as I struggled to get him dressed. He screamed trying to get into the car. I don't know what the deal was but I was afraid he knew he would be left alone at school. Jason and I both went to drop him off and Jason drove, I rode in the back with Dylan. Much to our surprise, he happily got out of his seat in the carpool line and watched the other kids getting out of their cars. As we got up to the drop off spot, the preschool director came over and opened the door. I halfway handed him over and she said, "Give mama a hug and kiss." So I leaned over to hug him and he grabbed on. I hugged him and said "bye bye." Apparently I didn't do it fast enough because she said, "Let me have him." In a very nice way of course. He was not upset at all! Then she carried him away into the school and he didn't even look back. What?!?!?! He didn't look back???? Seriously, I was secretly hoping for a little bit of upset after the morning we just had. How could he go to that stranger so willingly? Hmph. Well at least he was happy. Of course when we got home I pulled out the Preschool Parent's Emergency Kit that his teacher had given me at Parent's Night. In it was a small pack of tissues (thanks, needed those), a cotton ball and several Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. The cotton ball was supposed to remind us of the soft and gentle spirit of our little one. And the Hugs and Kisses, well you know what those were for. I held the cotton ball for a minute and missed him so much. I took out 1 Hug and 1 Kiss and savored them. It was only 2 hours before I had to go and get him from school so I passed the time by doing chores around the house and a neighbor came over to talk about plans for our back yard. Then at 11:00 I was so ready to go. Jason decided he wanted to go too. I was ready to go so I said I would be waiting in the car (that normally never happens). We got in the carpool line at 11:25, 5 minutes early. I think we were about the 10th car down. So as we are waiting Jason says, "When we get up there you need to get out so he can run to you because he will be excited." I said, "No, I'm not going to do that, they said not to hold up the line. He needs to just get in the car." Well Jason kept insisting so I finally said ok. When we got up to the pickup spot, I saw him being carried down the sidewalk toward our car. When he saw us I saw him say "Mama!!!" but couldn't hear it. I jumped out of the car and he was so excited to see us. He kept saying, "Stickee, Stickee, Stickee!!!" and pointing to his hand where he had gotten a sticker. His assistant teacher came over to me and said, "Dylan had a fabulous day! He didn't cry at all!" She is so nice. We got back in the car and pulled around to a parking spot. He was so happy and excited. Then when I went to put him in his carset, oh my goodness, back to the screaming tantrums again. I actually said to Jason, "Do you think he has one of those split personality things?" I am starting to wonder. We decided to celebrate the first day of school by going to lunch at Slope's BBQ. Jason was happy. At home this afternoon Dylan was a perfect angel and played really sweetly. I actually got to work on a sewing project with him in the playroom. He was starving all afternoon though and kept asking for snacks. I think he ate about 1/2 a bag of goldfish. I couldn't resist and left a message for his teacher under the guise of asking about what snacks I could bring in. She called me back later and after we talked about the snacks I just had to ask how he did. I mean, come on, I want all the details, you know? She said he shared really well, they had goldfish and teddy grahams for snack and he got one of the juice boxes I brought in for him. (I asked them not to give him high fructose corn syrup drinks.) She told me that they were at recess around 9:00 AM and he played so hard on the playground, and that he especially love the push toys and was running around the playground pushing them. He got so sweaty that his hair was plastered to his head. So she said she asked him if he wanted to swing and he said yes so she put him in the swing and tried to get him cooled off. I told her that Dylan is a big sweater. Haha. In his bookbag he brought home a little art project that is supposed to be him in the mirror. And there was a cutout apple that said how tall he was today. And a card to say Welcome to School. I think that opening the bookbag each day to see what he brings home is going to be my favorite thing. I can't wait to see what else he does this year. I am anxious for Thursday now to see how he does next time! I think I will have to pull out another Hug and Kiss then too.