John's big day!

It was only an hour-long orientation for the kids, but man, what an hour it was!

John's first pre-school class was today. Joan tagged along - I couldn't get a sitter for her, but she wasn't the only younger sibling there, so i didn't feel too bad. Being the first day of school city-wide, I gather anyone who could take the day off, did, so not many sitters were working today. (We've been using a babysitting agency. It's costly, but all the sitters are prescreened and it reduces the job of finding a sitter to one phone call.)

John did, in fact, go as Four, with the full army helmut/sunglass get-up. The only change I insisted on was that he wear long pants, instead of shorts, with his snow boots - it was, after all, 9 degrees outside. As it was, he refused to wear a jacket, because he wanted to show off his stylin' Take Me Fishing T-shirt from Boffo Home and Cottage. It's his favourite right now. He recently refused to take it off for four days straight - as in, night AND day.

Anyway, we had to park a block from the school, so many passers-by got a good chuckle from his outfit while we made our way to the door. A few curious looks from the other moms, but most people seemed amused. We all gathered in the lobby, then the teacher came to usher us in as a group and greeted everyone at the classroom door individually. When it was our turn to introduce ourselves, the teacher laughed at his get-up, and said "I LOVE it!!" John beamed and, throwing his arms in the air asked "You love me!?" "I do!" said the teacher. "I don't even know you, and I already love you."

So things got off to a good start. They were allowed to explore the room for a bit, and scope out the best toys. Then it was circle time. The moment I had been dreading. He sat down alright, but the excitement of it all got the best of him. As all of his classmates sat in meek silence beside their moms, mine jumped up and boldly stated, "My name is John!!!"

Then the list of rules started. He was clearly bored out of his mind, but obviously listening, because as soon as the teacher said that they need to raise their hands to talk during circle time, up shot John's hand.

"Yes John?" asked the teacher.
"wellllll......there sure are a lot of toys in here."
"Yes, there are. And you'll be able to play with them soon."
Up shoots John's hand again.
"Yes John?"
"Wellll......What are those numbers there for?"
"Very good observation John. That's our number chart. We'll be talking about those soon."
Up shoots John's hand again.
"Yes John."
"Wellll.....Why is there a worm in that apple?" he asked, pointing to a picture of a worm in an apple.
"I suppose he was hungry."

At this point, I could tell his cuteness was wearing off, so I stepped in and whispered to him to please be quiet and listen to the teacher. It was the hardest thing for him, as that hand just...kept...creeping...up! I think the teacher noticed my frustration, that, although he WAS working inside the rules, he was being disruptive, so she leaned in and said "Don't worry. This is something we'll work on."

After that, I definitely felt a shift in the way they treated him. Not that they're trying to crush his spirit or individuality, just to get him to listen to the rules and do as he's told when he's told to do it, which is really his big shortcoming, when it comes to school readiness. The next activity was a craft. It was technically optional, but the teacher used it as a way to assert a bit of authority over John. He wanted to play with playdough, and although there were two boys there who hadn't made the craft, the other boy got a gentle invitation to the craft table, which got ignored, but John got a "John, you have one more minute with playdough, then I want you to start on your craft." And she followed up - a minute later, she was back to corral him to the craft centre. And wouldn't you know, he listened. I mean, he wasn't thrilled about it. It took some coaxing, but he did leave the playdough to make a craft. It was all very subtle, but I was impressed. This lady knows her stuff - she sees that he needs some breaking in, and she got started on day one. But she seems to like his quirkiness, which is great. He had a bit of an emotional outburst at home time - he was in tears, because he wanted to stay, so we were the last ones out the door. Once the teacher, her assistant and I all managed to calm him down, the teacher walked me through the sign-out process. As we were about to go, she leaned over and said "I just love his 'wellll...'" I admitted he can be a bit of a ham. As if she hadn't figured that one out by herself.

In true Diva John fashion, he refused to say good-bye to his teacher, but talked about how great she was, and how much he loved school for the rest of the evening. So it all ended well. He seemed totally fine that it was a new school with new teachers. And I think this teacher has the experience and skill to keep him reasonably in line, while still letting him be the kooky kid he is, which is what I loved so much about the Best Start teachers.

It's just always so shocking to see him against a group of his peers, to see how different he is. How do they get these kids to just sit there like that? Why does every other kid sit and silently listen to a verbal description of a dancing game, but mine feels the need to jump up and show the class his signature "helicopter" dance moves? Mike thinks it's awesome, because he sees a lot of himself in John. But I just can't relate to him, as a person who always strove to be unnoticed as a little kid. He's just so...confident. And I love that about him. But I'm worried that he's going to run into teachers down the road who don't appreciate his sense of humour, and label him a trouble-maker, or assume he has ADD or something. So far, we seem to have gotten lucky. Becky and Sue were amazing, and I have high hopes for this new match-up, too.

Hopefully, it will continue to go well. I think he's going to have fun, while they teach him what he needs to do well in real school, which is, after all, the whole point of preschool. Why pay these big bucks just to let him play three days a week? The goal is school readiness, and each kid will need help in different areas. Mine's smart as a whip, but he has a bit of an issue with rules, so that's the tweaking he'll hopefully get. But in the short term, I can't wait to see what he decides to wear on Friday!