First Day of Preschool

Well, we survived the official first day of preschool without any tears (from Mac or me) at dropoff.  Granted, that's not to say there was not a boatload of tears prior to leaving the house about any number of things, like: (1) what he was going to wear; (2) what to eat for breakfast; (3) what Mim was wearing; (4) whether or not he'd take photos, (5) whether Baby Sting (his favorite stuff animal stingray...out of the nine stuffed stingrays he has) could go to school with him; (6) what mommy was wearing; (7) what Mim ate; and (8) what time to leave to make sure we made it to school on time.  I'm pretty sure nuclear launches take less planning and negotiation than our first day of preschool took.  

As I mentioned, we've been talking to Mac about going back to school for weeks now.  Like most toddlers, I really think that he does much better when he knows what to expect and knows what's coming.  Transitions and schedule changes can be hard for kids, so we've all been talking to him about going back to school and trying to get him excited about it.  For the most part, I really do think he was ready and excited to go back. He kept talking about his friends at school and all the fun stuff (like cutting with scissors! and talking about peanut tea!??) he was going to do there.  I get it...as fun and exciting as it is to hang out with your mom, nanny and baby sister all summer, sometimes you just want to get back to your friends and have some independence. I was just as excited for him.  

Last night we laid our "First Day of School" outfit out for him to see and get used to, just so there might be one fewer temper tantrum in the morning.  Mac can be rather picky about his clothing - he insists on wearing "soft" clothes (hence so much Kickee...or maybe due to so much Kickee) and hates clothes with scratchy tags, collars, buttons, etc.  Even though he doesn't wear a uniform for preschool, I ordered him a few polo shirts and khaki shorts and pants from French Toast Uniforms that were actually incredibly soft and not-scratchy or uncomfortable.  French Toast has a great selection of colors of polo shirts for boys and I really love the soft blue and gray (plus, they're super affordable, so if your kid rolls in paint at school it's no problem).  The khaki shorts have an elastic waistband and are stretchy, comfortable and fit him really well without being stiff or tight.  I don't know if it was picking out the clothes the night before or whether he just also really liked the clothes, but there was absolutely NO RESISTANCE from him on getting dressed yesterday.  If you have a three-year old, you know what an accomplishment this is!  French Toast for the win.

As I mentioned in my last post, I printed this cute little sign for Mac to hold for his "First Day of Preschool" photo shoot and put it in his backpack with all these grand plans to prep him for getting his picture taken.  He was fine and totally on board until I pulled out the camera...at which time he decided he would rather throw himself down the stairs than look or smile at me.  The only way I convinced him to cooperate was to tell him that Baby Sting wanted to get his picture taken for his first day of school.  Somehow he bought it.  So, we had a nice little photo shoot for Baby Sting where we all talked about how much fun Baby Sting would have at school and how big and brave Baby Sting was.  We are all so lucky to have Baby Sting in our lives...  Mac seemed completely unphased by all of this. 

Honestly, I think he was pretty excited for Baby Sting's first day of school, which is pretty adorable.  Baby Sting got to go to school in Mac's backpack and hang out there all day with him, just in case he was needed.  Turns out, Mac did just fine without Baby Sting (and without mommy).  He immediately found his little 3-year-old boy posse and they played cars and threw sand at each other in the sandbox like no time had passed at all.  When he found his way to me at the end of the day, there was no frantic "let's go home" vibe - just a cool, relaxed preschooler that had a lot of fun on his first day back and wanted to go play on the playground with all the other kids.  It simultaneously broke my heart and made me the proudest mama ever. 

And speaking of mixed emotions, I'm not sure whether Mim is absolutely thrilled to shove Mac out the door three days a week so she can finally have some alone time to herself or if she's going to go into a deep state of depression every day until he gets home from school.  She's an enigma and went through a myriad of emotions yesterday in the 1.5 hours that he was gone.  Only time will tell.  (Although, it's very obvious that she thinks this photo shoot is the best idea ever and all about her...thank you sweet girl.) 

How was your child's first day of school this year?

*I received this product as part of the Savvy Sassy Moms Product Scouts program. All opinions are my own. As always, this post does NOT contain any affiliate links - just products that I love and use myself.