First Day of Preschool

We did it! And I do mean WE!

Ava starting preschool was a long-awaited, almost dreadful (for me-I'll be honest) milestone that we approached this week. She will only go for 2 days a week from 9-2. That seemed like a long time to me, but after trying it out, it will work very well with our schedule. Tuesday was orientation/open house. Ryan and I took her to her classroom and stayed for a few minutes. She couldn't care less that we were there. We told her we'd be back in a while and said goodbye. She ignored us. She was fine. Once we came back, after an hour or so, and she saw us outside the door, she started to whimper. She did great!

I appreciate that the philosophy at our preschool, "work is planned with a process rather than product emphasis, which fosters a sense of accomplishment and pride." I look forward to her future masterpieces and learning in general, as this learning style is absolutely Ava's style. She doesn't learn well under rigidity and regulations. As I've posted before, I've shown her activities and she'll come up with her "own" way to do them. Afterall, there is never a "right" way, and she is proof-positive of this. I can remember doing a "Wheels on the Bus" activity with her at about 18 months and I cut out all of the items we sing about: wipers, horn, wheels, etc. She insisted, insisted that we add a pig and a sheep to the bus. So of course I had to make those.

On a side note, I was the total opposite as a child. I needed and thrived on work being "right" and following rules. It's is captivating how each individual child learns differently. Something of which I knew as a teacher, but now as a parent, I can appreciate it much more.

If Ava is told buttons and blocks aren't supposed to be mixed, she simply will not be interested in the activity and move on. When she is told that blocks belong over here, seperate from buttons, I can tell she wonders why? Why can't I play with blocks and buttons together? In fact, some of her most imaginative and creative play comes from mixing and playing with things that are not "supposed to be this" or "used for that". She'll take spoons and pretend they are balloons; holding, er...flying them high above her head, step stools and torn up pieces of toilet paper are birthday cakes, turkey basters are lollipops that are licked on during another activity. Anyway, I digress.

When looking at preschools, like every parent, I just wasn't sure which philosophy I wanted Ava exposed to: curriculum-based, play-based, combination, etc. After a lot of thought about my individual child, I am grateful that Ava's learning style is very much aligned with the preschool's philosophy that children should learn through play and take a "hands-on" approach. They have set up a schedule that is a good balance of structure and free choice. Also, there is a strong emphasis on routine, which will also be very beneficial and comforting.

Ava decided that she wanted to do stamp work on that morning. She was so proud of her "EI-O" artwork that when I walked in she raced over to grab it from her cubby to show me.
Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Lauren and hanging onto Daddy's leg. Ms. Lauren is the sweetest, kindest person. She has been teaching preschool for 18 years and Ava loves to talk about her. When we left Ava initiated giving her a hug AND a kiss, which doesn't happen often.
Here is Ava's lunch, ready to go, note and all. Ava's first day of lunch consisted of a turkey sandwich (barely eaten), veggie booty (halfway eaten), canteloupe (all gone) and string cheese (all gone). They indicated on her daily form that she "ate well", lol.

Btw, I am loving our reuseable snack bags from WasteNotSaks, thanks from a recommendation from one of my "virtual" friends and the idea to use them from Jill.

And here is the pretty princess all ready to go on her first day! It wasn't all smiles once we got there though. She asked me to come inside for a few minutes, which of course I did. I wanted to make our goodbye as fast and painless as possible because I knew that if I saw her upset, I would get upset and she would see that. NOT what I wanted her to see. If I continued to be upbeat and positive, she would totally feed off of that. So, once I told her to have a good day and I'd see her soon, she started crying. I had to leave b/c my tears were coming.....SOON! I told her I loved her and said goodbye. I couldn't even make it out to the car before the tears were rolling down my cheeks. Once I got to the car, I talked to Jill and Keri, who've been through it before and calmed down. My only saving grace was that the director had encouraged us to call if we wanted them to check on our children. I called about 20 minutes after dropping her off and she was SO FREAKING nice about it. She not only accepted but encouraged me to call back as much as I wanted. So she went and checked on Ava and said she was doing great! She wished she had a camera to show me that she was playing and doing fine. That was all I needed.

Smiling for me while playing. You can kind of see her heart on the inside of her palm. Something that I read in my almighty-Parents-mag about doing after reading the Kissing Hand. We actually started it when she transitioned to the big girl bed and she asked for it for school.

When I picked her up, she was sound asleep. She loved that she got to wake up to me rubbing her back. She kept telling me how surprised she was. It was so peaceful in her room. Kuddos to the teachers for getting eight 2 year olds to sleep so easily. WOW!

So all in all, a great experience. I'm sure it will take some adjustment for both of us, but we are so pleased with Ava's success!