Okay so this isn't food or home maintenance related, but my husband said I should share it...I wrote this for William's pre-school. They asked us to write a letter to our child about their first day of school.
Dear William,
It’s almost 10 months since you arrived in this world and already you’re going to “play school.” I still call it play school even though I should call it pre-school ;-)
It had been raining heavily for many days, but given that Little Wonders is near our house, I wanted us to walk to your new school. I bundled us up and left in plenty of time. However, just to remind me that I am rubbish with your sleep schedule, you took 10 minutes of the 15 minute walk to fall asleep. I kept walking for another 10 minutes so that a) we’d arrive on time (not too early and not too late) and b) you’d have at least 15 minutes of sleep before your big day.
I constantly marvel at you William. Your first day at Little Wonders was no exception. Having just woken up, and with no real afternoon nap to speak of, you looked around with excitement. I carefully put my prepared Ziploc bag with your spare diaper, my phone and wallet in the space provided. I placed my water bottle and your sippy cup, both clearly labeled with our names, on the bookcase. I handed in our paperwork and photos so they could be mounted with your other class mates. We were prepared!
We sat down with some familiar and not so familiar faces. Straight away you started crawling and exploring. Circle time, songs and introductions took up some time. You listened intently to the songs. When teacher Susan asked what other songs we could sing, I boldly shouted out, “Wheels on the Bus.” It’s one of your favorites and since it’s familiar to you I thought it would help you know that this new adventure is going to be a good one.
I had brought our camera and video camera. I wanted to video the introductions so that I’d remember all the new friends, but I know we’ll learn everyone’s names soon enough. I started taking lots of photos, I wanted to document this special occasion!
We tried to play with many children, not just those few we knew. You’re so social and you smiled at everyone. You were, on the whole very gentle, however, with one little girl you got a bit too excited and wanted to touch her face. Your touch was a little rough and I was worried it was more of a scratch. I probably over reacted, shouting “no” and I apologized profusely to the mummy. She was a second time mum and was much more laid back about your “affection.”
As with many of the children, you liked playing on the loft. It has stairs on one side and a slide on the other. Despite the fact that we don’t have stairs in our house, you loved climbing up the loft. Again you surprised me by how deftly you reached the top. I was behind you every step of the way. A little boy named Saxon was playing with you too and you both had a great time climbing side by side. At one point it looked like you were racing each other to the top. Oh no…you’ve inherited mummy’s competitive streak!
At the top you played with a toy along with Saxon. You put your arm around Saxon. Although I’d like to think it was a reassuring hug, I think it was your way of carefully edging him to the left so you could get a better position!
Teacher Mirielle encouraged you to slide down the slide and you weren’t sure about that…maybe climbing was enough for the first day.
Towards the end of the class, you and many others were playing with dolls and musical instruments. At one point you placed your mouth over the nose and mouth of a baby doll. A fellow mother laughed and said that she was going to keep her daughter away from you, but again I’d like to think that you were practicing your CPR skills versus trying to get a romantic connection going at this early age!
We closed with the goodbye song and I had to pull you away from the toys to go home.
With emails exchanged during the next few days, moms spoke of their babies sleeping well that night after their exhausting first pre-school day. William, yet again, you proved yourself unique; you slept no better!
With all my love,
Mummy