Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Wheels on the Bus

And he's off...to preschool. Oh my goodness, a mixture of emotions bottled up inside. Pride, excitement, hope, joy, nervousness, sadness, fear. All of them at once bubbling up to the surface. Proud of my big boy. Excited for this next new step. Hope for a wonderful first experience with school. Joy at seeing his smiling face. Nervous about letting go. Sad seeing him get worried. Fear for all the unknowns.

We talked all morning about the bus and sang one of his favorite songs "The Wheels on the Bus". We got his backpack ready with some pull ups and wipes. We got a nice big brunch inside his belly and got dressed for the morning. The bus arrived promptly at 11:00 and as the wheels went round and round toward us Joaquin yelled out "BUS!" My voiced cracked a bit and tears welled up inside my eyes but I kept it together. I think it helped that I had to rush to pick up Mateo at 11:10 from Kindergarten and had Sofia to take care at the same time so those things served as great distractions.

Hector followed the school bus to pick up two other preschoolers and then followed the bus the 1.5 miles to Joaquin's school (he felt like a stalker!)  I was able to get there in time to see Joaquin being walked to class with one of the main teachers Miss Kelly (who is a DOLL!!!) and she had plenty of hugs and snuggles to give him when they greeted. It was only when he saw me that he gave us his sad face so it was then that I realized I needed to let go and let him grow from this experience without me distracting him.

I pick him up at 2:20pm so we'll see how it went. We decided not to go into class with him because everytime Joaquin saw us he got a little sad. PRAYING he has fun today and that he enjoys school and that the classmates and teachers love him as much as we do.








I'll try to upload the video of him getting on the bus later! SUPER windy day here today. He almost blew over a few times with the backpack on his back! My teeny tiny sprite.

7 comments:

  1. Oh those pictures are priceless! What a cutie, Joaquin looks so grown-up. I'm pretty sure that first day is toughest on us moms, our kiddos seem to do wonderful. And yes, loving teachers make all the difference in the world. Can't wait to hear how the whole day went..

    Libby

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  2. so cute! I still haven't dared do the bus thing with Bree, I still drive her every day. He looks so cute!

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  3. You already know from Facebook how I feel about this precious moment! What a big boy!

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  4. What an exciting (and emotional) milestone for you! The pictures of Joaquin reminded me so much of Rylee's first days of preschool. (Gosh, it took us weeks to find a backpack that wasn't bigger than her!) It was a big change/adjustment for both Rylee and me... one that Rylee probably did better with than me! All I know is that we grew... Rylee became more social, more outgoing, more confident; and I became a little less therapist and a little more Mom. Now, Rylee's in 1st grade and just last night we had Parent/Teacher Conferences. We've got a capable, hard-working, funny, loving little girl with a big personality who has wonderful, caring teachers and therapists and accepting, kind-hearted friends. We're so very lucky... and it all started with those first steps to preschool!!! Big steps, I tell ya! Enjoy them!!

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  5. Oh my goodness I'm crying like a baby for some reason! I can't even imagine my Bennett getting on the bus to go to school for the first time. Such great pics! I hope he had a wonderful first day!

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  6. he looks like such a big boy! hope that the day went well and look forward to the video...

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  7. Hope he had a wonderful day:) Great teachers are half the battle!!

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