school days

It has been a monumental, busy week for E4. He started baseball on Monday and then "school" on Tuesday! He was very tentative at baseball, and would have preferred to just watch the three year olds bat or run around exploring the huge fieldhouse, but he did a fairly decent job at moving from drill to drill and following the coach's directions with assistance from Mom. On Tuesday he went to his school, Creme de la Creme, from 8:30 - 11:30; today, Thursday, I picked him up at noon. He will go there 2 days a week from 8:30 - 12:30. It is a day care/pre-school that operates on an intense, rotational curriculum. This means that he changes classrooms and activities every half hour. For the next few months his schedule is as follows:
8:30 -9 Creative Movement (everything from parachute to yoga to dance; they wrote on his summary sheet "Eddie is really good at throwing a ball and catching.")
9 - 9:30 Computer Lab (today they worked on the letter "o" and they said he repeated the word "ox!")
9:30 - 10 Snack and Free Play
10- 10:30 Outside Playground
10:30 -11 Music/Drama (today they wrote "Eddie enjoyed playing with musical instruments.")
11- 11:30 Gym
11:30 - 12 Lunch/Math Concepts (they were impressed that he ate all of his cucumber and tomato salad and asked for more!)

His teachers are Ms. Jamie and Ms. Courtney, young and energetic women, plus he sees special instructors for classes like Creative Movement and Music. There is a tremendous amount of staff there. Every day I get a written report of what he learned/did, ate and if he had a diaper change or tried to use the potty. Today they also wrote on the sheet "Eddie is a great helper!"

On his first day I stayed in his first class for about 15 minutes and then snuck out and he didn't even notice. Today I tried to do the same and he saw me leaving and ran over to the door and started to cry, so I stayed for another 5 minutes and then snuck out and he did fine. The teachers said he has been doing really well. Today when I went to pick him up he ran over to me right away but then he didn't want to leave. He showed me the bathroom and how he washed his hands, then he proceeded to climb on the cots they were getting ready for the other kids' naps and even laid down on one for a bit and then I told him I was going to leave but he could stay if he wanted, and of course he joined me at the door. He likes drinking from the water fountain/bubbler. And he loves the pond in the lobby with all the fish; has to say goodbye to the fish every day. Then as we leave we pass the TV monitors in the lobby (this is a cool feature for parents to observe their children) and he points out all the rooms with the "babies." As we drove home today, he fell asleep. Busy days for my growing boy!

As for me, the separation has been way easier than most, including myself, would have anticipated. I find myself driving away smiling, knowing that he is adjusting well and seems excited to go there each morning. The time goes quickly and I find I cannot get all the things done I would have hoped. Today I went home and got to take a long shower and meet a friend for coffee. It is a nice break, but in general, I prefer being a full-time mom and it makes me feel like a fish out of water to be with out him and have time to myself. I feel like he is in good hands, although I do worry about illnesses on the horizon; I swear every kid in there either has a cough or some secretions coming from nose or eyes. There are about 10 or so kids in his class, although the number seems to vary since some kids are there all week and of course there are always kids out sick. A little girl named Cora seems to like him...let's hope she doesn't have the cooties.