Savannah Begins Preschool!

Hall pass!  I’ve decided to skip The Teacher’s Salary Series for this week. Don’t worry, it’ll be back next week and I’ll be talking about how we typically handle emergencies.  I hope you’ll stop by next week for that!

Instead, I wanted to let you know about Savannah’s special day yesterday.  It seems like we are week later than most areas, but Savannah started preschool! {Please ignore the ugly paint chipping away on our threshold – it’s on my fall project list.} 🙂

She is enrolled in a Monday/Wednesday 2 year old class at a nearby preschool.  The preschool is run as a ministry of the episcopal church where it is located.  She will eventually be attending for 3 hours each of those days, but for the first week, she goes for 2 hours so they can get accustomed.

I have been mentioning preschool to Savannah all summer long, especially whenever we would drive by and see the playground.  I was doing my best to prep her for the idea and she seemed receptive.  Last week, it started to became more real when we went to get some school shoes.  Then on Sunday, I made a last minute shopping trip with Savannah to get some socks and leggings.  {We’ve been so used to sandals and flip flops this summer, that I didn’t realize she’d practically outgrown her socks.  My bad!  🙂 } 

We attended the parent’s orientation last week and Kev and I got to meet some of the staff.  After hearing from the preschool director, meeting her teacher, and seeing her classroom, I was even more excited for Savannah to begin.   

My first concern was us all being up and ready so we could get out the door.  I haven’t had a regular routine like that since back in the spring during my women’s Bible study at church.  Unless we’ve had doctor’s appointments, our schedule is usually pretty flexible {which is sometimes not a good thing – ha!}.  We did fine getting out the door on time, so I’ll have to keep that up.

Savannah insisted on wearing her “Strawberry Shortcake” shoes.  I had no idea shoes that had pink in them would automatically become Strawberry Shortcake themed shoes, but indeed they have.  🙂  I had planned for her to wear her pretty white Keds, but I was not in the mood for a clothing/shoe battle on day 1 of preschool.  Getting her there without tears was goal #1 and I was not going to fight that battle if I didn’t have to.  So, off she went in her pink shoes!

She did fantastic at drop off and went right in with no tears or screaming.  I didn’t think she would, but I will not assume that they won’t come later.  They warned us that often times this age does fine at first but then cries a couple of weeks later once they realize this is not a special event but it now part of their routine.  We’ll see how it goes.

This morning after drop off, I ran a quick errand with Brady and I really enjoyed my time alone with him.  Sometimes I feel like he gets the short end of the stick when it comes to my undivided attention, so it was nice to be with just him for a couple of hours this morning.

When I picked Savannah up, she seemed to be in great spirits.  I didn’t get too many details from her, but I’m sure they will come out as time goes on.  I decided to treat her to a spontaneous cheeseburger lunch at McD’s since it was a special day.

If today was any indication, I think Savannah will have a great year!

I can’t forget to mention that my heartstrings were tugged a little bit at pickup when I saw one of the moms outside Savannah’s class taking pictures of her son.  His name is Andrew and he is in Savannah’s class, so it will be interesting to see how they get along.  Oh, that little guy has no idea what his name means to our family.  He was quite the little cutie. 🙂 

Any moms/family members of preschoolers: 
Any tips you want to share with me for a smooth transition? 
Please leave me a comment- I need all the help I can get!  🙂

Fondly,