Jan 8 - First day of Friday School

Well, we had two weeks straight of illness around here, and I got behind on the blog...will try to catch up quickly now that Jonah has started taking naps!

Isaac has two preschools now, and we call them Tuesday school and Friday school. Each one is just a few hours in the morning. He started Tuesday school back in August, as I intended to provide some consistency for him before Jonah arrived. Friday school starts at age 2 1/2, so Isaac, and 9 other kids who have just reached that age, are in a class that starts midyear. It's a neighborhood cooperative that we've been hearing about ever since we moved here - one class at a time, in the downstairs of an old Denver Square house, with a great playground for a sideyard. I was excited that he got in (lottery), especially since it is a class full of our friends. But I had no idea how much Isaac had been dreading it. We'd been dropping him off at Tuesday school for 4 months and he was fine, but this was a new place and a new teacher, and of course he couldn't understand that he was much closer to home and that it would only last 2 hours instead of 4.



We went to the school together to drop him off, all 4 of us. Several other dads were there too, and some friends kindly took pictures of us (Shawn - the two above and the last one, Leanne - the other two - thanks!!).

After some clinginess, Isaac started to realize that the room was full of fascinating toys. We could see his hesitation, and I dreaded leaving, but at least he knew most of the other kids. Also, two moms stay each day to serve as assistants. Sarah promised me she'd give him a hug if he was sad, and Teacher Anne took him to the window to wave goodbye to us. Adam and I jumped up and down, waved, and made faces at him, and thankfully the little face looking out the front window at us had a smile on it as we walked away. We heard later that he'd hung back and observed for much of the class (typical Isaac, wanting to figure things out for himself before jumping in) - but no tears.




Below, Isaac was thrilled to see Jonah and me but still wouldn't smile for a picture.



I found out how much he'd been dreading this morning once we got home. He was suddenly full of crazy grins and laughter, relief all over his face. It was fun after all, but you couldn't have made him believe it until he saw for himself.