Freedom! Um, I Mean, First Day of Preschool!

Monkey Man officially started preschool today. I say officially because today I had to drop him off at the classroom. Yesterday, the parents were invited to stay. So yesterday, Monkey Man wanted to go to school because, hey, Mom and Dad were there, too! He wanted to meet his teacher! He wanted to see some old friends and meet some new friends! Today, sans Mom and Dad, he wanted none of it.

Today was exactly what I expected, but it still felt like someone was reaching into my body and ripping out my heart. All morning, Monkey Man told me he didn’t want to go to school. “I don’t want to see my teacher. I don’t want to see my friends.” I was cheerful and encouraging, even when I wanted to say, “Listen, buddy, you have like 19 years of this ahead of you, and that’s just through undergrad. Unless, of course, the Major Leagues snatch you up and you set Mommy up in a nice little retirement village in Hawaii.”

As soon as we got in the car, the tears started. On both of us. I didn’t let him see me cry, but I just felt so badly for the kid. I remember that feeling of leaving mommy and wondering, is she really going to come back for me? Is that teacher going to turn into a mean ogre? Are the kids going to be my friends or am I going to play alone? Ugh. So he cried and cried and his teacher came and brought him into the classroom. Door shut. I bawled. They might as well have ripped the child from my womb. That poor pathetic face was peering over his teacher’s shoulder looking at me and I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to follow the rules and just let him go. So I did.

Then I went to Target for 1 HOUR BY MYSELF! I got over it pretty quickly. And apparently so did Monkey Man. Upon my return, he bounded out the door with a smile across his face and showed me a smiley face sticker he got from his teacher. And what did he sing up the stairs on the way out the door? “I love school, I love school.” Me, too, if it means solitary Target trips.

(Photos were taken on the day when parents could come to preschool. That's why he's smiling. On the first "real" day, picture him looking just as handsome only with gigantic tears running down his face.)