First Day of Pre-School

I knew today was going to be rough (for Porter)... he's been telling me for weeks that he doesn't want to go to school.  He just wants to stay home with me.  I think the combination of me returning to work after being home with the boys all summer and the newness of a new school, new teacher, new friends is really affecting him.

I'm so glad my job is flexible right now and I was able to leave a little before lunch to go meet our babysitter at his school so I could take him on his first day.  Maria told me that Victor had gotten Porter pretty excited about school and Porter had even let him brush his hair and get him all ready.  However, as Maria and I walked up to the school, Porter balked and crossed his arms across his chest and said he wasn't going.  Then he turned and attempted to run back to the car.   On the way in, as we passed some large rocks in the landscaping, he told me he wanted to throw a rock at my face.   Thaaaat's nice.

Once we got to his class he didn't want to hang his coat or bag up.  And after entering class, all hell broke loose.  I knew from experience on the other side it's best to keep it short and take off.  He'll be fine in a few minutes.  Well, I bent down to hug him and he clung to me and started bawling and screaming that he didn't want to stay... he wanted to go with me and stay home.  I had to pry him off me and left quickly.  What an awful feeling... hearing him screaming hysterically down the hallway.

Needless to say, I got ZERO pictures of him entering his "first day of school".

His teacher called me about an hour later and she is so sweet.... she said she knew, as a parent, that if she'd had to leave her son that way that she wouldn't have a mind to think about anything else all day.  She said about 10 minutes prior he'd decided to go play with some friends.  So, I'm not sure if that meant he spent 50 minutes screaming and crying or what... but at least he warmed up to the idea.

When I picked him up he was paying with a little girl, Heaven.  He was nowhere near anxious to go and seemed quite content to just hang out in the class.  I had to ask him numerous times to get his bag so we could go.  Mrs. Slat gave him a big hug and he just seemed like he'd really warmed up to her.  In the car he told me "That was SOOO fun, Mom.  I love school!"   Thank God!!  I hope tomorrow will be much easier for him.

This is the only picture I got of him today:

Before bed tonight he wanted to read this book about feelings... Sad.  It asks "When was the last time you were sad?" and he told me "When I had to stay at school."  We started to talk about it and he says to me "I just wanted you to pin my name tag on me!"  And my stomach sank.  The night before, we had been talking about school and he told me he didn't want to wear the name tag pin.  I asked if he was afraid it'd poke him and he said yes.  So I got out a safety pin and showed him on my shirt how we could pin it without poking your skin... that I pulled my shirt way out. He wanted to inspect the safety pin to make sure it wouldn't come undone.  I told him I'd put his name tag on him in the morning and make sure to pull his shirt out really far.

And then this morning... I left without putting his name tag on.  :(   I asked if Mrs. Slat put it on him and he said she did.  He said "I told her to be careful and pull my shirt way out."  Awww.

Tonight we were doing some of his homework and he had to draw a picture of himself.  I love this!

And then there's the picture of his family... I don't look like Dr. Evil now, do i?