Kate goes to Preschool & Back to School Feast 2010

This is a big week for our family.
Kate had her first day of preschool yesterday & tomorrow Claire turns 2.
(I will be shedding many tears this week)
I can't believe I have a preschooler.
Seriously? Where does the time go?

For the past month, we have been prepping Kate about going to preschool.
We went shopping to get a first day of school outfit, got her a backpack (that she doesn't need), and told her how much fun she was going to have. Her preschool is at our church & her classroom is the same room she has Sunday School in, so she is very familiar with it. She couldn't wait to go!

But, then last week she started freaking out & having major meltdowns about going to preschool. She became very clingy toward me & sometimes cried when I left for work. She NEVER does that. Then on Sunday when I dropped her off at Sunday School, she cried & screamed. It was bizarre. She has NEVER cried at Sunday School, not even when she was a baby. All of a sudden, I was very nervous for her first day of preschool and worried that she was going to cry & freak out. After church on Sunday, Kevin and I decided we weren't even going to talk about preschool and we would just tell her the morning of.

Well, Monday night (the night before the first day of preschool) Kate wouldn't fall asleep.
At one point, she called us into her room to show us the outfit she had picked out to wear the next day.
It was this:
Her snow jacket from years ago, a butterfly shirt, white capri's & her boots.
(Kevin informed her that she couldn't wear that because you can't wear white pants after Labor Day.)

She didn't fall asleep until 11 pm. Yikes.

She woke up in a halfway decent mood & asked us where she was going for the day.
We told her it was her first day of preschool. She started crying & telling us she didn't want to go.
It was sad. But, we made her a special breakfast of scrambled eggs & pancakes and her mood vastly improved.

She got dressed (in her actual first day of school outfit) and she asked if we could go take a picture on the front step. She was getting excited.
You gotta have a sisters picture:
Claire actually took it the hardest that Kate was going to preschool. My mom said she kept asking for Kate all morning.

As soon as we got to the preschool, we ran into her buddy, Nicole and her brother Tyler:
Kate is so lucky because 2 of her best friends are in her class, Maddie & Nicole.

Love these girls and their families!
Meeting her teacher for the first time:

As soon as they walk in the classroom, the first thing they do is wash their hands. LOVE that!

Kate went right over to the paint easel. This girl loves art!
(and, check out Kate' new haircut)

Parents got to stay for 15 minutes & then it was time to go. Before I even said bye to Kate, she turned to us & said, "Bye Mommy & Daddy!"

Kate had a great day at preschool. She LOVED it.
She ate TWO peanut butter & jelly sandwiches when she got home.
And, then she crashed on the couch for about 2 hours.

Preschool wore this little girl out!

A couple of years ago, I was reading NieNie's blog & I read about a tradition that she does with her family the night before school starts. She calls it the Back to School Feast. She comes up with a family theme for the school year, the kids wear crowns & they have a fancy meal.
I knew that I wanted to start this tradition with our girls once they started school!
I was planning on doing it the night before school started, but because Kate was so freaked out for school, I decided to do it on the first day of school instead!
Our theme for this year:
"SCHOOL IS FUN!"

Since Kate is starting preschool & it is her first introduction to school, I want her to know/think that school IS fun. I have always thought school was fun & still do (as a teacher!). I hope my girls keep this attitude during their school years also...especially preschool. I mean, what is more fun than preschool? You get to paint, play on the playground & eat graham crackers! And, there is no homework. THAT is fun!

Usually, the Back to School Feast is a special & fancy meal served on china.
Well, with a 3.5 year old and an almost 2 year old, fine china was NOT going to happen.
And, they are picky eaters, so I let Kate pick out the meal.
She wanted chicken nuggets & tator tots. DONE.

I even found "fancy" tator tots shaped like letters. Now that is FUN!
And, I served them on their (plastic) ABC plates. Oh, and because it was the Back to School "Feast", I gave them chocolate milk with dinner. I'm nice like that.

Each of the girls made a crown to wear with their name on it:

At dinner we talked about her day & what her favorite part of school was and what was fun.
Her favorite parts were Art & Story Time.
We asked about her teachers and if she met any new friends.
We told her how proud of her we were for going to preschool.
We told her she was going to have a FUN year learning lots of new things.

For dessert, it was alphabet cupcakes
(actually, they were cupcakes left over from Claire's birthday party & I just stuck a letter on each one...D for Daddy, M for Mommy, K for Kate & C for Claire)

I am so relieved that Kate had a great first day...I only teared up once as we were walking back to the car. Kate was bummed she didn't get to go back today. (It is only 2 days a week).
It is going to be a FUN first year of preschool!

We will do this tradition every year on the first day of school.
As a teacher, I think it is fun to celebrate the first day of school with a special dinner & talk about goals & hopes for the school year! I need to start brainstorming different themes for the year!
I can't wait for how our back to school traditions grow as the years go on.
For now we have:
1. New outfit for the first day of school
2. Picture on the front porch the morning of the first day of school
3. Back to School Celebratory Dinner

Happy Back to School!