Preschool or Bust!!!

There's a sound in my house that I don't quite recognize. Or rather, I should say, a lack of sound because my house is quiet. No clomping footsteps, no yelling or screaming or arguing, no kids music emanating from the radio or tv. And it's a good quiet too, not the kind where you realize suddenly that the house is quiet and you'd better go see what your kids are up too. No, this quiet is rather nice and is due to the fact that there are no kids here for the moment.

You see, they're both in school. Michael began his second week of first grade and Nicholas started preschool this morning. He'll go every Monday/Wednesday/Friday for three hours, which means that every week I'll essentially get 9 hours of free time for the first time in 6 years! Well, almost 6 years: Nicholas did try preschool for a month last year so I did get some time but that time was spent worrying about whether or not he was crying at school or participating. This year he's in for the long haul, whether he cries or not.


My husband and I have been preparing Nicholas for this day all summer. He seemed to be ok with the idea until I actually took him to his classroom to check it out and meet his teacher. Then he turned all prickly.

"I don't want to go to preschool," he snarled as we walked up to the classroom. "I hate preschool!" Oh, brother, I thought to myself. Here we go!

I put on my happy face and introduced us to his teacher, Ms. L. Nicholas, of course, didn't want to have anything to do with her and continued to confess his hatred for anything school-like. I felt like such a bad parent for having this child that was so opposed to school that he kept using the hate word, that word that he shouldn't even know existed but did because he had an older brother. But Ms. L. saw right through Nicholas right away and was able to entice him outside to the playground. Five minutes later they were best friends and she got him to come into the classroom so we could check it out. He was excited that they had magnifying glasses and blocks and tools and a Dora house that sometimes the kids pretended was the Millenium Falcon.

When we left, my happy bubble was filled and I felt sure that Nicholas would do well on his first day. Fast forward a few days later, when we went back to school for his Open House, a time where all the students could come and meet each other and play in the classroom. We got to the classroom and Nicholas again didn't want to go in. I convinced him to go in, however, and guided him to the playdough table, where other kids were playing. He played with it for about 5 minutes and then turned to me and said, "I want to go home now." I tried to convince him to stay and meet some other kids and play with some of the toys but this agitated him even more.

"Get me out of here!" he cried as he clung to my legs. All the other moms looked on in what I hope was sympathy but I know they were secretly glad that Nicholas wasn't their kid. And so we left, my happy bubble popped and dripping down to my feet.

Yesterday, the bribes began. My husband took the boys shopping and Nicholas saw a SpongeBob skateboard that he just had to have. Lucky for him my husband is kind of a pushover, so he bought Nicholas the skateboard, even though he knew I wasn't going to be very happy about it. He did, however, use it to our advantage. He told Nicholas that in order to use the skateboard he had to go to school and not cry and participate. Nicholas seemed to get it and seemed excited now about going to preschool.

"My teacher Ms. L. is really nice and I'm going to go and have fun at school tomorrow." skaterboy said to us. You have never seen a child so happy as he was with that skateboard.

And so we come to today, the day of reckoning. All morning long Nicholas was excited about going to school. On the way there he asked if he would be going every day and if he could ride the bus. He said he wasn't nervous or scared because he knew that I was going to come and get him when it was done. Happy bubble, happy bubble!

Then we got to the school. As we walked up the sidewalk Nicholas stopped for a moment and his face started to crease. Oh no, I thought. Please stay happy, Nicholas!

We walked through the double doors into the school and began to walk down the hallway. "I don't want to go to school," Nicholas said pouting.

"Oh, but if you want to ride your skateboard after school you need to go, right?" I asked him. He nodded, and I silently thanked my husband for buying the skateboard.

When we got to his locker he began to get prickly again and refused to put his backpack into the locker. So I did it for him. Then we went into the classroom, where all the other boys and girls were sitting on the circle rug. I thanked my lucky stars that nobody was crying because I knew that would set him off. I settled him down on the rug, reminded him of the skateboard that would be waiting in the car for him the moment he was done with school, kissed him goodbye, and left.

I waited in the hallway for about 5 minutes, along with a few other parents, and then walked by his classroom door. He was sitting with his back turned to the teacher and the circle and his bottom lip was stuck out as far as it could go. But at least he wasn't crying.

And so here I am, enjoying the quiet of my house, silent but for the computer keys that are clacking away as I document Nicholas's first morning of preschool. I keep waiting for the phone to ring, but it doesn't. Maybe he's having a good day after all. I can only hope!!!

Later... Nicholas had a great day! He shed a few tears at first but then got into the swing of things! Now onto Day 2...