Ladies and Gentlereaders, Mister Cameron has started preschool! Praise the Lord and pass the decaf Pumpkin Spice Latte! I’m serious, though, the first thing I did after dropping him off was head for Starbucks and get me a decaf PSL. Truth be told, I’m not that super into PSL’s, or even Starbucks in general (I’m more of a Dutch Bros girl these days), but I decided that sounded like what the other preschool moms were probably doing, so I did it.
And yes, you read that right, I don’t drink caffeinated coffee. Blasphemous, I know, but can you forgive me? I’m sure this isn’t the last disagreement we will love each other through. We give grace around here, it’s the only way to roll.
The irony in this picture is that while I’m toasting the empty carseat, I’m oblivious to the fact that the dome lights are still on because Captain Handsy has to TOUCHALLTHETHINGS ALLTHEDARNTIME.
But enough about me, here’s a pic of the man himself with his favorite sidekick just before we climbed in the car- wearing NOT the outfit we had picked out the night before. Hey, he’s wearing long sleeves and he’s NOT wearing sweatpants, I’m calling it a win.
The transition to preschool has gone better than any parents have a right to expect. He was delighted to be there, just fine when I left him, and was soooooo glad to see me when I picked him up. “MOMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Be still, my heart. We aren’t surprised, though, little dude has been asking when it’s his turn to go to school ever since he could talk. Our house looks out over a green space that connects to an elementary school and he’s been gazing longingly at the kids at recess every since he was old enough to toddle over and look out the window. He’s been waiting for this.
I have been surprised, however, at how he has been affected by the fact that I don’t go with him. He’s so friendly and independent and confident and never really had the stranger danger or separation anxiety, I figured he’d be glad to be out on his own doing his own thing. But he has definitely been stressed out by the fact that he’s at school and Mommy is not. After his open house day, when Jeff and I explained that when he went back next week we wouldn’t go with him, he was really concerned about it. I thought he would think it was SO COOL that he would get to go on his own, but he was very fixated on me not being there and there were definitely stress behaviors that weekend and PARTICULARLY the morning of his first day. The behaviors (his usual fair: picking fights, hitting, not cooperating) continued until after school on his second day, then *POOF*! He seemed to realize he’d be OK and things have been great since then. He’s still been very anxious for snuggles, though. Which…not gonna lie, I’m totally OK with this.
My favorite moment from his first week was when I went to pick him up after day 2 and one of the other moms asked me who my kid was. I told her I was Cameron’s mom and she said, “Oh, good! I thought that was you. My son has been talking about his new friend Cameron and how he likes to play with Cameron.” I ’bout busted my buttons. I wuv him.
I’ll leave you with this pic of the conquering hero after we picked him up from his first day.
