Valentine’s Day is this week, and Mio’s preschool class celebrated today by having a Valentine’s party and card exchange. All of the students’ mommies were invited to come to have snacks and treats with the kids, and it was a fun chance to see them in the classroom setting and look at what artwork they’ve been creating.
Mio’s artwork at school: “Love Grows” tree
Mio’s “Love Bug.” Love her butterfly’s goofy face!
Enjoying Valentine’s treats in class.
She thoroughly enjoyed everything, especially the cake pop!
Mio likes to do “big eyes” for the camera lately. Love my sweetheart!
My funny girl.
I remember my favorite part about celebrating Valentine’s Day at school was making mailboxes and exchanging Valentine’s cards with my friends and classmates! Seeing all the Valentine’s cards that Mio received from her preschool classmates brought back fond childhood memories. Some moms are really creative these days with their Valentine’s!
Mio’s Valentine’s cards from classmates
She can’t contain her excitement over her loot! Now if I could only figure out how to sneak all the sweets away for myself… π
It was really sweet to get to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Mio this year, as she’s really starting to understand and appreciate seasonal celebrations these days. (She still hasn’t completely gotten over the excitement of Halloween and Christmas… lol.) I have a feeling that with Mio’s sweet tooth, Valentine’s is going to be right up there among her favorite holidays!
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:
Mio’s favorite room was the “creative movement” (PE/dance) room. Surprise surprise…
Here she is checking out the Science class. I didn’t know preschoolers learn science!
She also loved the music room at preschool! So much to look forward 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!
Breakfast before going to preschool
Of course, we had to take some obligatory photos in front of the house to remember this milestone!
“I hope my teachers and classmates will like me…”
“Oh, the things I’ll learn…”
“I JUST CAN’T WAIT!!!”
We’re so proud of you, Mio!
And off we go!
Personal backpacks are actually not allowed at Mio’s preschool. They are all given totes from the school labeled with their names, but we’re free to decorate them however we please.
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.
Arriving at preschool. Mio scurried towards her teacher’s open arms and went into the classroom, without even turning around once!
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.
I thought this was such a cute idea! Mio apparently liked “the pig.” lol
The daily schedule for Mio’s preschool class.
Among the photos that were posted was one of Mio crying on the playground, being held by a teacher. Apparently she had cried a little later in the morning (probably when she realized Mama and Daddy were gone), but she was okay as the morning progressed.
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!
Showing off her first artwork from preschool.
This month, the kids are learning about circles, the color red, and apples, hence the theme of the drawing. Good job, Mio! Looking forward to seeing what other art she’ll create in school.
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
