impressions

I spent hours labeling all of Aiden's clothes for school.  I loved the Oliver's labels I used, but geesh what a task.  It felt strange to look at all his little clothes piled in one place.  Not just because there are so many, but they are still so little!  Yet he's headed off to a school where he's expected to put them on (and even zip!) all by himself.  You should see what they've taught him to do in three short days - He puts his sweatshirt on the floor, puts his arms in, then flips it over his head - all with a huge smile!

Monday night was a two hour orientation for parents.  After three "phase-in days" of only and hour and half the week before,  I'd pieced together some funny little tidbits from him telling me about his day, but I was preparing myself to not know much about his school experience (which is a little disconcerting for me, although she says no news is good news...)  We got this nice email from his teacher on Friday night.

"What a great first week for your Wee Threes! There were a few tears, but they were quickly gone as the little ones got engrossed in works, circle time, and in meeting new friends. I was really impressed with each child’s ability to transition through out the morning! More exciting than that, though, was when the children partnered up with each other for our tour of the school. Upon holding hands with another, one child declared, “You are my friend.” And, with that, all of the Wee Threes told each other that they were friends!
....
I look forward to seeing you all Monday night and answering your questions—as you can see it is a little tricky to fill you in at drop off or pick up time. I know how hard it is to wait behind a closed classroom door (“What’s going on in there?!”), but Monday night will help alleviate the mystery!"

Oh goodie, she is going to feed my frenzy I thought!  Rebecca used to joke about how many questions I'd ask and how important it was for me to know how Aiden's day went.  I won't know more than what he tells me on a daily basis, but at least I will have a general idea of how his morning is structured... It was a nice intro to the classroom and a chance to get to know his teacher a bit better.

She explained more about the red chair spot, and it's actually not a punishment at all.  And she told me that Aiden found the spot all on his own...so I guess he wasn't worked up like I thought.  She also said that she was happy to see how quickly he introduced himself to the other kids on the playground.  I feel like a detective trying to piece his day together and figure out what he did, but I think I need to just concentrate on the time I spend with him and put my detective hat away.  School is for him to have his own independent time, and he's clearly already loving it.