Big Day

Today was a big day for our little Kaylee…her first day of preschool. Where has the time gone, I ask you? (I have pictures to post, but haven't taken them off my camera…to tired tonight.)

The decision to send her to preschool has been one long evolving. Without all the details, we had actually decided not to send her this year. Although our church has an excellent preschool program, we decided to wait until next year to have her go…mainly with Samantha coming this fall, we thought it would just be too much.

Then last week (or something like that) we were invited to send her to a home school preschool. My long-time friend, Jenny decided to purchase a curriculum and home school her daughter, Marie, and wanted a few other kids to join in. This arrangement fit our schedule much better in a number of different ways. It's close to Mom's house, so Logan and I can take the girls to preschool and then go there. He can play and I can take my work, not get too far behind, and not have to do as much driving. It's only 2 days a week instead of 3, which also makes it much easier to do this year.

So today was the first day! We told Kaylee about it this weekend, and she seemed mildly excited, which I found odd. I figured she wouldn't be able to contain herself. However, by yesterday she was much more excited. We set her clothes last night, and we were all ready early this morning. Logan was "ready, ready, ready," and kept saying preschool…poor little man thought he was going, too. Once we got to Mom's house, he didn't seem to mind at all that he didn't stay at Jenny's.

Evidently, Kaylee did a good job during her first day. …until it was time to go home. I honestly expected this, but tried to talk to her about it before in hopes of avoiding it. Jenny said after they sang the goodbye song, Kaylee got upset, started crying, and went and sat on the steps by herself. Jenny thought she was missing me, and the song made her want to go home. Well, that would be the case for most children, but I don't have "most children." You see, when Kaylee goes somewhere and has fun, she really dislikes the idea of going home. 'Twas the case today. She threw a big fit, cried, and tried her hardest to be able to stay at Jenny's. It was a long while (long while as in we were home before), but she finally calmed down.

I know a large factor in her breakdown is the fact that she is very tired by that point, and has a hard time dealing with being tired. I explained to her that she would be able to go back, but it was time to go home. I tried distracting her with other thoughts, but nothing calms that girl when she is in a state like that. While I can deal with it mentally, it's getting physically a lot harder to manage her when she is limp or somewhat putting up a struggle. I'm hoping this doesn't continue to last too long, as I was exhausted by the time I got her in the van. I've tried several other methods, but am open to suggestions if anyone has encountered this before.

 

In other news…I'm also sadly realizing how fast Logan is growing up. I guess since he has stayed a little more baby-ish longer than Kaylee did, I've gotten used to it (and yes, like it). But tonight I put him in the booster seat and he fed himself almost his entire dinner…a plate of scrambled eggs with cheese melted in. (Which also happens to be what he requested, and I think he wanted to help make.)

He hardly made a mess, and sat nicely while eating all his food. He even thanked me when he was done. It's not that he hasn't fed himself before, but he usually starts eating, gets full, tosses some onto the floor, forgets what he is doing, plays a little. I mean, tonight he was like a little boy. He was so happy with himself and so proud of himself, I could only be about half-sad.

(And no, this time I did not let him help me make it. We often involve the kids in cooking when we can and when it's safe, but tonight I was just too tired to let him cook. Not to mention Kaylee wanted pancakes and not eggs, so I was making two different things…I'm not usually a short-order cook, but I offered options, and each kid picked a different option tonight.)