Tyler's 1st Day of Preschool - 3's Class

Tyler had his first day of preschool in the 3's class today and he loved it.  He is in Patty Bohnenberger's class, Mrs. B., who also taught Timmy.  I was thrilled when we found out Tyler was in Mrs B's and Mrs Martin's class, the Curious Cubs.  Last Friday I took Tyler in to meet his teachers and he got right to work at the art table making his snack mat.  He sat with Mrs B. for a picture and then built a house with the blocks.  He did not want to leave when it was the next friends turn to meet the teachers.

I felt like we had a rough start to Tyler's first day of school which started last night, when I could not find Tyler's school bag!  I searched everywhere I could think of but still came up with nothing!  This morning we woke up later then I had hoped, Tim had to run off to work, and the boys took forever to eat breakfast!  Luckily Grammy works from home on Tuesday's, so I was able to leave Tyler eating while I ran Timmy up to the bus.  When I got back Tyler and I regrouped, and he cooperated for my pictures.

Another huge difference from last year!  I measured the boys last week... if you couldn't tell from their heads by the front door, they each grew 2.5" since the first week of school last year!

We took a few more pictures outside and Grammy came out to take my picture with my Tyler.

When we got to school we had a few minutes before it was time to go up.  I got to walk Tyler into his room.  He made a bee line for the playdoh table and Mrs B rerouted him to teach him about washing his hands as soon as he arrives.  Stella was already there and the two got settled in quickly.  Stella told me happily that Tyler's bag hangs right next to hers in their cubbies. They are going to have so much fun this year!

After I dropped Tyler off I promptly bought him a new school bag so that I wouldn't be contributing to him living in Timmy's shadow!  (Mrs B and the director of the school both have called him Timmy already this year!)  When I picked Tyler up by car line he was a happy camper!  He told me about playing playdoh, making art, and eating crackers.  Sounds like his kind of day!

Tyler's Preschool 2's Class Wrap Up

I'm really cutting it close on Tyler's preschool 2's class wrap up, as his first day of 3's class starts tomorrow!  Tyler had a great first year of preschool in his 2's class with Miss Sue and Miss Liz!  The class stayed pretty small all year with only 8 kids, and only one of them was a girl!  Tyler gave me no trouble at drop off for the first few weeks, then out of no where one day he started bawling when I would go to leave.  The teacher's handled this really well and it didn't last very long.  Tyler's favorite station was undoubtedly art!  Once he got used to being dropped off again, every morning he would be started on a masterpiece before I was even done signing him in!  When I went through his art at the end of the year, I saw there were two different days where he had made over 12 paintings each day!!!

Miss Sue did not let parents come in very often throughout the year, as she thinks this is too hard on the two year olds.  The few times that we were invited into the classroom, we would be treated to a short musical performance and then have a snack, just before pick up time.  At the Thanksgiving party Tyler was one of the most involved in the singing.

I already wrote about their Cookie Decorating at Christmas here.

When Tyler's school pictures came home we asked him who each person was, he didn't tell us a single name (though I knew most of them from drop offs and he confirmed them when I said them).  Here they are:

When Tyler first looked at the picture, he pointed to the little boy next to him and said, "Him mad at me.  Him maaaad."  We were very surprised and asked him why his friend was mad at him, he just shook his head and repeated, "Him mad."  I emailed the teacher about it and she said she was shocked, that the little boy is Sebastien whom Tyler is actually best buddies with in class, and she said she even checked with Miss Liz and neither of them had any signs of an argument or falling out!

The Easter Egg hunt at the preschool is always a great event.  Tyler and Stella were two peas-in-a-pod (or a bucket) while Miss Beth led the group through some fun songs.  Tyler had helped with hiding some of the eggs and he loved hunting them!  He followed the rules about how many he could have and only getting one of each color very well.  Then my little artist spent a while on his egg before we could head home!

I always have a horrible time with the last day of school.  Tyler was actually gritting his teeth and kind of growling at me in the first picture from the last day of school, not wanting his picture taken.  Too bad for him it turned out cute anyways!  At pick up time the parents came in for some songs again and a popsicle party.  Miss Liz had brought in some bark beetles that make a high pitched noise, Tyler did NOT want to touch them but he was very excited about listening to them.

His evaluation wasn't a surprise, with everything being marked as "age appropriate" and the Teacher note read:  Tyler is so confident, curious, and has become good friends with his classmates. He especially loves to run with Sebastien on the playground.  He loves all the centers in the classroom, focusing on the sensory and art tables.  He participates in circle time and talks about the fun he has at home with his brother Timmy.  He refers to him as "my Timmy".  It has been a pleasure to have Tyler in my class.  Have a great summer!

I know that Tyler missed the routine of going to school, the art projects, and seeing friends every week.  He had a really great time and it's evident in the fact that he can't wait to get started back to school tomorrow!

Timmy's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Well, summer is officially over!  We spent the last week preparing Timmy for heading back to school!  When asked, he said he was not excited to get back to school, but he looked pretty excited this morning.  We went on Thursday for the open house and met his teacher, Mrs Bekenstein.  She makes a great first impression and we've heard from a few people who have had her that she is great, super organized and encourages the kids to make their own decisions.  We found out that Timmy already knows at least 1/3 of the class, which was a relief since his best buddies are in different classes this year.  We had ordered most of his school supplies on amazon, so we sat down yesterday and put his name on everything and loaded up his backpack together.  Timmy helped me make his lunch last night and kept asking if he could eat it while we made it, immediately after eating dinner!  This morning he kept talking about how excited he was for lunch!  I had Timmy fill these out for me on Sunday.

This morning we had his favorite food, waffles with bananas.  Yes, I have them eat waffles without their shirts on!  Timmy questioned me about this today and I pointed at his place mat, his response was, "Oh.  That makes sense"

Timmy participated in my annual photo shoot pretty willingly.  He said that the shirt was embarrassing, but he also said that it should actually fit by next year!

Pretty big difference from last year!

We went out front for a few more pictures.

Tyler loves his Timmy so much!  He told him he would really miss him today and tried to give him lots of kisses but Timmy made that difficult!

This just makes me smile, the definition of brother adoration!

We sat down for a few minutes and Tim explained what a first impression is.  Then Tyler finally got his kiss even though Timmy still protested!

Tim and I walked Timmy into school and found Mrs Bekenstein in the cafeteria.  Right after posing for the picture she smiled, nodded, and mouthed, "I've got him." and we were no longer needed!  Sigh...

At pick up Timmy did not like the new first grade freedom of being able to walk out the doors on his own!  In Kindergarten the whole class would come out and line up by the long wall and they would wait until a parent was in sight, and then high five Mrs Sheaffer while pointing to their parent.  We asked him if he'd rather get picked up at school or ride the bus home for his second day and he responded, "ride the bus so I don't feel all alone."  For the record, Tim and I were both waiting for him immediately beyond the overhang and made eye contact and waved before he was half way through the overhang!  We will definitely have to have a meeting spot under the overhang for him for a while!  Other then that Timmy said that everything was good, that all they did was learn the rules, even in P.E.!  He did learn a new friends name, Jackson, who is currently sitting to Timmy's right in class.  I was very excited about this as it usually takes him weeks to tell me any names!  He also said that he got to play with Nate and Tanish at recess, so all three 1st grade classes are on the playground at the same time, which he is very happy about.

Going through Timmy's backpack when we got home, we see that Mrs Bekenstein is indeed very organized, sending home a folder every day with a "keep at home" side and a "return to school" side, along with a sheet for the week that lists daily specials, a little bit about what they are talking about for the week, and the homework assignments for each day, to be signed and returned each day!  We love it!  Right before I was going to bed I got an email from Mrs Bekenstein, responding to one I had sent earlier, simply saying, "Timmy had a wonderful first day!"  It should be another fantastic year!