School Dayz

Eli starts his pre-school tomorrow morning. I feel like he's going off to Kindergarten! Last night Lehr and I went to a parent orientation and teacher meeting; although I'd met the teachers and seen the classroom, it was Lehr's first time. I was quickly reminded why I chose this school - they are so warm and into their jobs! The classroom was already set up with the kids' names on their spot at a big table, and on their coat/bag rack. It was surreal to see Eli's name plastered about with the other nine kids' names as if he were really going to school. Both teachers reminded us that the focus was not on academics, but rather sharing, group play, following instructions, and most of all FUN. They get to do (and bring home) an art project everyday. So much for our policy of not cluttering up the refrigerator! I honestly got choked up when the main teacher told us the independent things the kids would be doing each day: finding their picture and matching it with their name on a board (attendance), hanging their bag on their specific hook, and sitting in the seat marked with their name.

This morning Eli and I went to the Meet-n-Greet for students. Tyler and his mom came over to watch Mad Dog so it could be a Eli-n-Mommy activity. After a very, very trying morning with Eli, we went to the school and Eli loved it. He immediately went to the play kitchen they had set up and started to cut food with the play knife. He found pizza (pee-tah) and a piece of cake (birt-day cay-ck) to cut. Then he colored a picture with the teachers' aide while the teacher and I chatted about Eli. I 'warned' her that he is a very active child, so playground time will be his favorite activity.

After school, we went for a walk with Tyler and his mom and then the boys played outside. Considering how much Eli likes the word 'no' these days, he did pretty well with Tyler riding 'Mater and using his baseball glove.