Today was Mio’s first day of preschool ever! We had initially not planned on sending her to preschool yet until she turned three, but we saw that a very local preschool had one last opening they were trying to fill for the upcoming school year back in May (when most preschool enrollment has filled up) and I was noticing that she seemed more bored at home lately despite my efforts to take her on playdates and to playgroups, so we decided to go ahead and sign her up! Shortly afterwards, we discovered that we were expecting our second baby, so it all worked out because it will give me a little break from taking care of two kids once the baby arrives early next year. Hopefully getting out and having some independent time away from me, seeing that she’ll be fine without Mama will mitigate her recent clinginess, too. It’s just two days a week, from 9am to 12 noon, so it’s not that long and I think it’s just the right amount of time away while she’s still at this little age.
Last Friday, we went to the preschool’s “sneak peek” so Mio could meet her teachers and see the different classrooms she’ll get to go to:
The “sneak peek” was really helpful because it got Mio used to the classroom environment, and she got to familiarize herself with her teachers (who were all super nice!), and get excited for preschool. All weekend she was repeatedly saying, “Gakkou!” (Japanese for “school”) and “Fun!” so it was reassuring to see that she was looking forward to it.
This morning, we got up bright and early to eat breakfast and get ready for Mio’s first day of school!
Of course, we had to take some obligatory photos in front of the house to remember this milestone!
Each classroom at the preschool has a door that leads outside facing the parking lot, for easy dropoff and pickup for parents. We all gather in front of the door in the morning, and one by one the kids are ushered into the classroom, and parents are encouraged to just stay outside and watch them go in. The teachers help the kids hang their bags and coats up, and get them situated in the classroom.
Mio didn’t cry… probably because she didn’t even realize that we weren’t coming in with her until we had left. I wasn’t feeling that emotional this morning while I was getting her ready and taking pictures of her, but the moment I saw her go off into the classroom, my eyes welled up with tears. It was bittersweet, and I couldn’t help but cry when I got home, too, wondering the whole time what Mio was up to and how she was doing. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wonder for too long. For the 2.5 year old class, because they’re still so little and need time to transition, they start on a graduated schedule, where they are just at school 9am-10:30am (for 1.5 hours) the first week, 9am-11am (2 hours) the following week, getting 30 minutes longer every week until they reach the full 3 hour schedule the last week of the month, which they’ll stay at for the rest of the school year. Even the 1.5 hours today felt unexpectedly long because I’ve gotten so used to being with Mio all the time.
When I went to pick her up at 10:30am, they had already put some photos from the day up on the bulletin board, as well as some updates about what each child did/liked.
For pickup, the parents wait outside the same door we dropped the children off at, and the teacher opens the door and one by one calls each child and hands them off to their respective parent. Even though I was the first mom to arrive, Mio was the last one to get called and come out… apparently because she was showing no signs of wanting to leave! Even when they brought her outside, she kept going back inside to play with the Lego toys inside. I had to practically drag her out of the classroom and into her carseat because she was so reluctant to leave!
Mio kept exclaiming, “Gakkou! It’s so fun!” on the drive home, and she was so excited from the day that she skipped her nap (much to my distress). Tonight, as we were getting her ready for bed, she picked up her school bag and said “Gakkou! Yay!!!” She can’t wait to go back tomorrow! I’d spent the whole summer wondering and worrying about how she’d adjust to starting school, but it turns out it’s proving to be a much easier transition (at least so far) than I expected! We’ll see how the following weeks go, when the novelty starts wearing off… I’m hopeful that she’ll continue to love school, though. After all, it’ll be her “job” for the next twenty years! π