Last week my baby started pre-school. He goes to St. Raphaels Catholic Church for 2 1/2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I registered him back in July, so we've been talking about it for a while, and I got some books about pre-school to get him acquainted with the whole idea. One of the books called it Nursery School and since then that is what he calls it. His first official day was last Thursday, but they broke them in very gradually. First there was a parent orientation where the kids weren't supposed to attend, but our friend who was going to watch the kids couldn't at the last minute, so we had to bring both the boys. We were totally "those" parents! We got there late with 2 kids in tow. Fortunately it was a pre-school event and they were ok with the kids there. Then the following Thursday there was an open house for an hour during their school time where the kids went in with a parent and got to play with the toys and the other kids and meet their teacher while still having mom there. Then the next Tuesday they had a "split session" where the kids went by themselves, but the class was split in half. Half the class came for the first hour and the other half of the class came for the second hour. Then, finally the following Thursday they went for the whole time all by themselves. Brady absolutely loves his nursery school! He didn't have any issues leaving me-'at a boy! He said hi to his teacher and literally bounced right into the room without so much as a good bye to mom.
Not only did Brady start pre-school but mom started in PTA! It's not official PTA, but with pre-school they expect parents to participate and help out quite a bit. So, they have a program called the Lunch Bunch where the kids get to stay after class and have lunch with their freinds and play on the playground. This is supervised by the parent "volunteers". Brady will get to go every Thursday and I will work the bunch every other Thursday. Well in order to do this, I had to go to a meeting to learn the ins and outs. Then the catholic church really puts you through the rigmarole in order to volunteer or work around kids. So, I had to get a physical, a TB test, attend a workshop on protecting God's children (sexual abuse education), get finger printed and get a form notorized to release any criminal history I might have. So thats all for Lunch Bunch. Then you have to "volunteer" for classroom duties. Each parent is assigned a week to bring snack, then each parent signs up to make a batch of play-dough for the month and I am also a classroom assisstant where I might have to cut things out or prepare stuff for the teachers. So, since we are only going to be here for half the year, I was assigned snack the first week and signed up to make play-dough for the month of September. And, to top it all off, since Brady's birthday was the weekend before school started, I volunteered to bring cupcakes in! So needless to say, the first few weeks of September have been rather hectic! But it's great! Brady is really enjoying his nursery school and I am enjoying my new 2 1/2 free hours to run errands with only one child. Sweeet!
The morning of his split session.
Saying hi to his teacher, Mrs. Bealle, and jumping up and down the entire time.
And there he goes! No good bye mom or anything!
This was after class on the way out.
Brady and I decorated his bag before the first day of school.
the back of his bag.
This is what he did on his first day.
Here is is on his first official day of school. He was pretty pictured out by this point in the week, so getting him to stand still was near impossible. The following few pictures are of him "being 3".
He's saying look at my arms mom! I'm sticking them through the holes!
Totally cracking himself up!
So, I took the bag away and he stood there swinging his arms and clapping his hands.
This is the best I could get this morning.
Birthday cupcakes! Mrs. Bealle made him a little crown and everything! Too cute!
