Kip's First Day of School

Kip's first day of Pre-K was yesterday!!! He was so compliant for this porch first day photo and that made me so happy. 

Gotta have some goofy ones too...

And a picture with sis.

Fortunately, both Dan and I were able to go into his classroom with him and help him find his seat and his cubby. Dan left with Ivy shortly after but it was nice that he was able to go in the room too. 

 

 

I stayed with Kip because the first day was just an hour long and the parents got to stay. They did a morning meeting and then a little activity with drawing and writing while his teacher gave the parents classroom details. The kids got to play in the room for a bit at the end and Kip went straight for the play kitchen. 

 

 

When we got home there was a present for him (in true first born spoiled fashion). He really wanted a steam engine Lionel train to go with his diesel. It just came out so we made it a starting school gift and it kept him occupied the rest of the day. 

 

Today is his first full day of school. 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM. The longest time he has every been away from home by himself or from any one of us. He did really good at drop off this morning especially since it was extremely unorganized and chaotic. He bravely followed his classmates in the front door. I knew he was nervous but I'm hoping once he got into the class he would be fine. I cannot wait to hear about his day.

This is such a big milestone for him and for us as caregivers as well. It's the first big monumental step of independence and growth. I'm equally excited for him and sad for me. It reminded me of when I was pregnant and so desperate to be done and to have him in my arms and then instantly feeling like I didn't want that because the second he was born would be the first moment he began his journey growing away from me. I actually found the blog post I wrote about that here. 

 

I relate to those feelings so much today and feel them just as closely as I did when I wrote that post.

He's just my little baby and I know all these feelings are normal and we will get through it successfully, it's just hard. Parenthood is complicated, it's the most challenging and rewarding thing anyone can do.