Josiah's First Day of School
Yesterday was Josiah's first day of school.
I was a little nervous to leave him since he hasn't been in any form of daycare, with the exception of the center at Ikego. I first left him there while we completed our "area orientation brief". He was about 16 months old at the time and he seemed to really love it, though he was always happy to see me at the end of a long day. Those were some pretty looooong days. Catching the bus from Ikego to Yokosuka because we didn't have our licenses (when I say "we" I mean Alexis and me). We would get up very early, catch the bus in at 6:30 and sit through the AOB from 8-4 or so, then catch the bus back home. This went on for about a week.
But I digress. After Annika was born, I tried putting Josiah back into the CDC on a part-time basis, maybe once or twice a week. I had this grand idea that he would go there, have a great time playing with the other kids, working on art projects, playing on the playground. Meanwhile, my newborn daughter and I would take long walks and do things like go to Yokosuka to get groceries and run errands. But, you all remember that grand idea didn't quite work out as Josiah had gotten older and wiser in the interim and didn't care to be left behind. He cried so much that they more or less told me that he couldn't come back. Not that I really wanted to take him back--if they were going to sit back and just let him sob all day without calling me to come and get him. Pretty heartless, in my book.
Anyway. So, I was a little nervous about taking him to school yesterday. My fears were these: (a) that he would commence crying and have to be picked up early; or (b) that he would throw tantrums and/or be obnoxious to the other children and have to be picked up early. No one wants to be the mother of that kid. The terrible one. The ones that the teachers whisper and shake their heads about.
But he was fine. Annika and I dropped him off with his bag and Titi at 9:00 a.m. She and I sat for awhile while he got into the swing of things, then we crept through the back door. I had my cell phone right in my hip pocket all morning as Annika and I ran errands, but I didn't get any calls. Hans, Annika and I all went back to pick him around 2:30.
Josiah was pretty happy to see us, but he was in the middle of an activity, so we had to wait for him to finish up. He had been a very good boy all day long, hadn't had any fights or tantrums or crying, and had even taken a nap! For art project, he made a butterfly with blotter paints. According to the daily report, they read stories, sang songs and played with puppets. Amen!
He had a great time. He definitely wants to go back. I wish that we could send him more than once a week. I told him as soon as he's pottytrained, he can go two times a week. Maybe that will be incentive for him.
The best part of it is that I am let off the hook for one day a week. I don't have to be uber-mama and find creative activities for him. I can just be a lazy woman on Wednesdays because he has school. For one day, I can relax and not worry that I should be teaching him the capital cities of South America or something. Let the ladies at school worry about that (OK, or more like shapes and colors)!
I was a little nervous to leave him since he hasn't been in any form of daycare, with the exception of the center at Ikego. I first left him there while we completed our "area orientation brief". He was about 16 months old at the time and he seemed to really love it, though he was always happy to see me at the end of a long day. Those were some pretty looooong days. Catching the bus from Ikego to Yokosuka because we didn't have our licenses (when I say "we" I mean Alexis and me). We would get up very early, catch the bus in at 6:30 and sit through the AOB from 8-4 or so, then catch the bus back home. This went on for about a week.
But I digress. After Annika was born, I tried putting Josiah back into the CDC on a part-time basis, maybe once or twice a week. I had this grand idea that he would go there, have a great time playing with the other kids, working on art projects, playing on the playground. Meanwhile, my newborn daughter and I would take long walks and do things like go to Yokosuka to get groceries and run errands. But, you all remember that grand idea didn't quite work out as Josiah had gotten older and wiser in the interim and didn't care to be left behind. He cried so much that they more or less told me that he couldn't come back. Not that I really wanted to take him back--if they were going to sit back and just let him sob all day without calling me to come and get him. Pretty heartless, in my book.
Anyway. So, I was a little nervous about taking him to school yesterday. My fears were these: (a) that he would commence crying and have to be picked up early; or (b) that he would throw tantrums and/or be obnoxious to the other children and have to be picked up early. No one wants to be the mother of that kid. The terrible one. The ones that the teachers whisper and shake their heads about.
But he was fine. Annika and I dropped him off with his bag and Titi at 9:00 a.m. She and I sat for awhile while he got into the swing of things, then we crept through the back door. I had my cell phone right in my hip pocket all morning as Annika and I ran errands, but I didn't get any calls. Hans, Annika and I all went back to pick him around 2:30.
Josiah was pretty happy to see us, but he was in the middle of an activity, so we had to wait for him to finish up. He had been a very good boy all day long, hadn't had any fights or tantrums or crying, and had even taken a nap! For art project, he made a butterfly with blotter paints. According to the daily report, they read stories, sang songs and played with puppets. Amen!
He had a great time. He definitely wants to go back. I wish that we could send him more than once a week. I told him as soon as he's pottytrained, he can go two times a week. Maybe that will be incentive for him.
The best part of it is that I am let off the hook for one day a week. I don't have to be uber-mama and find creative activities for him. I can just be a lazy woman on Wednesdays because he has school. For one day, I can relax and not worry that I should be teaching him the capital cities of South America or something. Let the ladies at school worry about that (OK, or more like shapes and colors)!
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