The 1st Day of Preschool

Well, it's official. Jake is in preschool! I can't believe I have a child old enough to go to school. It was a pretty exciting day for us although it started out kind of rough. Jake announced in the shower that he wasn't going to school today. And I announced right back that he was. Then he said that he didn't feel well (so apparently kids come hard-wired to fib about being sick to get out of school). And I said he was still going. We took some pictures before we left to document this momentous occasion, then on the way over he said that he couldn't go to school because he needed to run some errands. I asked what errands and he said he needed to go the video store. I reminded him that we hadn't brought any videos with us to exchange and that he still hadn't watched the last one we'd rented. He said, "Oh, yeah...." and then was deep in thought for a moment. Then he said in a tone of profound regret, "Mom, I can't go to school today because we need to go pay some bills." I laughed as we pulled up and promised to stay for a few minutes with him until he got settled. He was a little teary when I left (and no, I actually didn't get weepy at all, just sort of an "oh" moment) and I was waiting as I walked out to the car for him to come running out, crying, after me. But no problems. Then two and a half hours later we went to pick him up. He got a sticker for behaving well and following the rules. He couldn't wait to show me his homework paper, which is to practice writing his name. He told me that they had graham crackers for snack time and that there is a cool play set in the backyard that has a telescope on it and there are 5 boys and 5 girls in his class and that soon he can take something for show-and-tell, and he told me all this pretty much in one breath. As we drove off he asked, "Is tomorrow a school day?" I think he liked it.