Frank Notes

I’m not sure how or when it happened, but I am officially the Daddy of a preschooler!

Today we got our crabby little camper ready for his first day at his new school.  After much finaggling and finessing we were able to get him ready and out the door with his new backpack (compliments of Tata Marguerite and straight from the Ivory Coast!) and his new lunch box (compliments of the kind man at Trader Joe’s who took one down from the ceiling where it was hanging on fishing line as part of their Back To School decorations!).

His first day was short (8:30 until 11:30) and was mostly about him exploring the space while Daddy & Papa hung out in the back of the room with the other anxious parents.  There’s nothing more stressful than watching Daddy’s Pride and Joy take a hammer to Little Susie, the daughter of the woman sitting next to you, and not knowing if it’s at all appropriate to tell him not to do it or if there is a more pedagogically acceptable way to do it.  Actually, I don’t really think there is anything more stressful than watching your kid with a group of other kids, period.  Well, maybe the intake meeting where the teacher and director ask questions about your parenting and discipline techniques, such as they are.  I distinctly remember hearing crickets after responding to “How do you discipline your son” with “time outs”.  Apparently that is no longer the appropriate technique.

After surviving the THREE.LONG.HOURS of watching our son not play with others, take the hammer to the windows, refuse to go with the teacher to the toilet, pick on Jimmy Neutron (this kid is potty trained AND fully articulate!  Why isn’t he in kindergarten?!), pee his pants in the dramatic play room, and walk out of the group meeting in search of toys, Daddy was definitely ready to call it a day.  Of course he had to pee his pants ONE.MORE.TIME before leaving, just so Daddy couldn’t walk out the door with that ounce of self-esteem he had left.

Thankfully the backpack was full of clean shorts and underwear.  Although we’ve been trying to entice him into the magic of the porcelain throne, he’s not having it.  Luckily it was a short day, otherwise he may have ended up going commando by lunch.

But Daddy & Papa are prepared for tomorrow!  The backpack is STUFFED with clean shorts and undies.

And the best part?

We only have to be in the room for 2 hours, then we get to leave for two hours.  What we don’t see (and hence can’t be anxious about), can’t be held against us, right?!

All kidding aside, he did really well today.  He wowed Teacher Ellie with his mad ‘putting away his dishes’ skills.

He’s definitely one of the younger ones in the room, so it makes sense that he’s a little behind on his social skills.  His language skills are a bit behind as well, but that’s because he’s learning three languages (French, English, and Spanish).  I know he’s a very smart, inquisitive, talented little guy and I can’t wait for him to get into the swing of things and continue blossoming into the beautiful young man he’s becoming.