First session at preschool

So yesterday the alarm went on for the first time in yonks (not counting the time it went off for our holiday the other week), the morning was rushed, and I had butterflies in my stomach!

Yes it was Alex's first session at preschool, luckily James was about to take us and see Alex in so I didn't have to make the 25min walk this once! I have been trying to get Alex excited and aware that he was going to be going to pre school without bombarding him with it, as he does get very anxious in new surroundings or around new people. When he gets shy or anxious he does sometimes lash out and 99% of the time cries so I was expecting this when we got there yesterday. Thankfully he is familiar with the building as it is where we have been going to a stay and play group for over a year and I recognised quite a few Mums and children from that which is nice for me as I hate not knowing anyone!

Before we left he was excited and wanted to leave before 8am, I had to reign him in a bit but 8.50am soon came around-and he was clinging to James' legs for dear life, and trying to rip off his name sticker already! Once they go in they have their own mat to sit on and have to try and find their name, they then put this in small frog bin to make registration fun, many of the children (mainly the boys) found sitting on the mat a task, and many of the children were too shy to go and put their name in the frog this once! There was a boy who knew how it all worked as he has obviously been there before, and bless him he was showing the newbies all the ropes when they were putting the date and weather on the calendar.

After that it was time for the anxious Mums and Dads to leave for a quick chat in the foyer...cue loud cries (I think Alex was one of the first) and screams for "Mummy" at the top of 2/3 year old voices. Two little lads even made a B line for the main doors (which had been locked) and then lay on the floor screaming and shouting for their parents. To be honest it sounded like a torture zone for children and was both funny and heart wrenching! I could see Alex was being held and shown around by one of the staff as he was crying his eyes out...funnily enough I don't think I saw any girls upset!

The curtains were drawn in front of the main doors to stops the kids (and parents) looking in, and we were assured that everything would be fine...there were a few worried faces about though! I got a call from them an hour later and panicked thinking that he'd not stopped or perhaps lashed out at someone-thankfully they were just ringing to let me know he was fine and had been enjoying himself-phew!

His little face when we collected him was a picture, a big beaming smile and proudly showing us his new book bag which he absolutely loves! He had even done some artwork on the craft table, in fact two lots of sticking, which is unheard of for him, as he usually sticks about two items on and then gets bored with me!

We popped into my parents house on the way back as I had a midwife appointment just after anyway and all three places are within a few walking minutes of each other. Alex was hilarious when he came in, my Dad asked how preschool was and Alex replied with "Been at preschool AGES" chucking his book bag to the floor. I think someone was a bit tired from it all-most answers I then got about what he had done were, boring, rubbish or some other nonsense.

I found it very hard not to ask so many questions-I turned into my Mother-it's weird going from full time day time carer to then have someone else taking over. I wanted to know all he had done, what he'd had for snack, what he played with, had he played nicely with people etc. After his lunch I managed to get a bit more out of him about what he had done which made me happier, and at bedtime after I'd tucked him up he was telling me about it all without me asking which was lovely.

He's only going Tuesday mornings up until Christmas anyway as I have to pay for this term, I would have waited until he got the free funding after Christmas, but I thought with a new born arriving around then and then chucking him into preschool just after I would be heading towards a huge tantrum and he might feel as if I was getting rid of him for the newborn!

Hopefully I will relax more soon, it's just weird having someone else take over for a bit. The free few hours was really odd getting used to, but a nice odd, and it's so handy that my midwives at the doctors in continently a Tuesday which makes appointments much easier (as I have been relying on my brother to look after Alex as he's been off since his GCSE's).

Sorry for the quiet blog for sometime, we had two short breaks and I keep meaning to write up about them but the last week has been a bit hectic, and I have lost my blogging mojo for a bit-hopefully I get it back soon!