Seeger's first day of preschool

Today was Seeger's first day of preschool. After watching Mike and Nicklas start back up in mid-August, he was definitely ready. Seriously, he's spent that last few weeks saying, "And tomorrow I will go to school!" It broke my heart to see the disappointment on his face each time I had to respond, "Not tomorrow Seeger, but you get to go to school in a few days!"

Before the official start today, the school invited the kids and parents to do a practice run last week. They condensed their typical 165 minute day into an hour so I took the morning off to experience his excitement and learn more about what he'll be doing every day. Here is picture of him with his backpack, right before we made our way to the building.


Upon arrival every day, Seeger will get a star to put on his attendance chart. When the chart is full, he'll get a special prize.

Every day, Mrs. Maris and Mrs. Sieplindga will have the children take turns leading the class on the calendar and weather report.

For the mini class session, the teachers had the children work on a art project. Each child received a 9 piece blank puzzle and were asked to decorate it. Seeger drew his name by writing one letter on the top six pieces. For the bottom three pieces, he drew a picture of me, a picture of himself, and a picture of Uncle Mike.

It looks like the class will be doing a lot of singing which I love to hear. I feel like I missed on the singing songs with Seeger. I tried and tried to sing with him when he was younger but he always refused. (I blame this on his speech delay; not my singing ability!)

I really enjoyed experiencing his "first" day. As a working mom, I'm always jealous of the moms that have the luxury of dropping off and picking up their children from preschool. On the rare occasions that I do get to play the role, I always feel like an outsider, standing there waiting for the end of class. The other mom's are always chatting away, talking about their children's accomplishments and upcoming activities. I'm jealous that they see each other often and become friendly throughout the year. I miss out on that.* Also, the teachers post announcements and sign-ups for fields trips or class activities that can only be seen while picking up or dropping off the children. So I really feel disconnected and as a result, less invested with what's happening at preschool. This year, I plan to make more of an effort. I have the email addresses of the teachers. Seeger will be going to preschool Monday-Thursday so I hope to pick him up at least once a week.

* I think I'm extra sensitive about this because Nicklas attended a very cliquey preschool. It fed into a private school at it seemed like every mom stayed home with her children and they all knew each other long before their children started preschool. When the school had a mother's day party, I totally felt like the reject in high school that didn't have any friends. All the mom's were chatting animatedly to each other while I watched from across the room. And then during the party, the teacher read aloud the kids responses to questions she asked specifically about their mom's. Like, my mom is ___ years old and my mom is funny when she ____ and it seems like my mom is always _____. I was mortified when Nicklas said "it seems like my mom is always WORKING." I think at least half of the group gasped aloud and then looked at me pitifully.