Joseph's First Day of Preschool

Well, today was the big day - Joseph's first day at his new preschool! He was a little apprehensive about everything, even though we went last week for "open house" to meet his teacher, drop off his school supplies, and check everything out. I guess it had been a long, eventful summer, so even though I knew he'd have a blast (he's been asking about going to his old school every time we have driven past it) it's understandable that he wasn't sure about everything.

 

Ironically, this was probably the best smiling picture, and it was the first one I took!

Monster Joseph loves to appear for most posed pictures, so the next dozen or so were some variation of this:

A few stats - this was the first year I could ask Joseph these questions, and he'd give real answers!

Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: Strawberry milkshakes
Favorite book: (this one's tough, as it'll be whatever we are reading a LOT of... lately it's Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel)
Favorite movie: Peter Pan

And of course we had to get a few with his favorite sidekick!

Even those she was quite happy to pose for pictures, her morning went downhill from here - she's been waking up late, so today she didn't get up until 8am, was rushed through a quick breakfast so that we had time to take pictures outside, and in the car at 8:30. School starts at 8:45 and I didn't want to be late!

Outside the main entrance... and he wasn't really sure why I wanted to take so many pictures!

The teachers don't open their doors until 8:45, which gave us ample time to take some pictures just outside his classroom. It'll be fun to retake this picture on the last day of school and see how much he's grown this year!

 Finding his name on his cubby and hanging up his backpack, all by himself!

Once he saw the table of playdough and sea animals, he was set. No tears, nothing. Just a quick glance at the one little boy who was crying hysterically, and I reassured him Maddie and I would be back to pick him up. "Ok, bye mom." Back to the playdough!

At 11:30 when we were back to pick him up, Joseph couldn't stop talking about everything he'd done this morning! I didn't even ask him how his day was - he just started talking about the fish crackers they'd had for snack, songs they'd sung, how the teacher showed them how to stand in a line on the wall, and how much fun he'd had running around the playground, finally getting to play on the pirate ship play equipment. Success! He's already asking when he can go back.

And hopefully Maddie will figure this preschool business out - she was all out of sorts leaving Joseph behind in a place that looked fun, and cried most of the morning. I finally got her to fall asleep and take a nap on me 45 minutes before we had to leave to pick him up, and she wasn't happy until the minute she saw him again. I think she definitely missed her best friend!