Owen's First Day of Preschool

Oct. 6, 2008 was Owen's first day of preschool. He goes to the Coronation Kids Care Preschool at Mountain Meadows Elementary School in Port Moody on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings for 2 hours. It was recommended by his teachers that we wait until he turned 3 before attending the school. For a while beforehand, I had been preparing him for this day by talking to him and telling him what he might expect. That morning at breakfast was no exception, except... he outright told me, "Mommy, I'm tired of you talking about preschool. Don't talk about it anymore." That's funny, right? Except I didn't know whether to be worried about whether this was going to be a bad start to the whole school experience, or if he was just really ready to begin this phase of his life. All I could do was wait and see.It was a family affair. Daddy, Ana and I drove Owen to school and all four of us walked in together. Owen was a chatterbox right up until we were warmly greeted by one of his teachers, Carol. Chris helped Owen get settled in and situated at his spot on the floor while I chatted with his other teacher, Helen. Owen looked nervous and it suddenly dawned on me that... despite all the talking and preparation I did for Owen, I completely neglected to tell him of the part where we leave him there... by himself... with strangers. Oh boy.


We told Carol that we would hang around in the hallway for about 5 minutes after class started just in case they needed us. Owen didn't cry as we left. I think he wanted to follow us out but he stayed put. After 5 minutes in the hallway, we slowly walked out, got in the car and drove home. Without Owen. He's in school now!

Chris went to work and for 2 hours until I had to go back and pick Owen up, I didn't know what to do with myself. But Ana took control and took complete and full advantage of her time with me and we just played on the floor, tumbled, cuddled and had a little snack. She was a very happy little girl.

I went back to the school a few minutes before the designated pick-up time. I took a peek in the classroom's window and quickly found Owen who appeared to be doing just fine. He didn't see me. He was busy following along with the going-home preparations, and he was with other children, seemingly interested in their company. When he saw me walk in the classroom to get him, he was all smiles and ready to go home. He told me, "I had fun today." I'm so proud of my little boy.

Carol told me he was very good. He did a craft project and was asked if he wanted to show me but he didn't. So that means I have to wait until Friday before I can see what it was he made. I hope tomorrow, when Chris drops him off for his second day there, that he continues to have a good experience and as the days go by, that he becomes more and more comfortable with the idea of being at school.