1st Day of Pre-School

Sadie has now finished two weeks of pre-school. I must admit, I was pretty nervous dropping her off the first day. I thought there would be tears and "Mommy, please stay!" but she did amazing! She goes to "Little Bulldogs Pre-school" which is located in Streator High School. The child development classes help plan lessons and work with the students. There are 20 children in Sadie's class and three different periods of HS students with about the same number, so they get lots of one-on-one. We drop them off in the main office where they are greeted by HS students and walked down to their room.

We were able to go in a few weeks before school started to meet Mrs. Chervaney and see the classroom. Mrs. Chervaney also had an open house the week before school started, so Sadie was able to meet a few classmates. So far, she has left happily every morning to walk with the "big girls" and come running out every day with stories to tell me. She has been hesitant to play with the other kids (she kept telling me that she just watches them play), but on her 4th day she came running out and exclaimed "Mom, today was my first day of playing!" This cautious side is one that I would love to witness in person!

She goes to pre-school Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8--10:40. We are often rushing to get out the door by 7:45, but we've done pretty good so far! I've been enjoying these mornings to take long walks with Macey & Kinnick (we also went for a bike ride one day--Macey's first time in the bike trailer!) I also use the time to run errands with only two. Another thing I have enjoyed is having one-on-one time with Kinnick. I've always felt like I've gotten daily one-on-one with each of the girls, but it's harder with him. Macey usually naps for at least an hour so Kinnick and I have been doing lots of reading, playing with blocks, baking, etc.

I feel like I've done pretty good with this transition (for the most part). But at times, I do feel like it's much harder then I thought it would be. It's hard to realize that there are so many other children (and teachers) having an influence on Sadie. We've been making it a tradition to pray on the way to school every morning and I always ask Sadie if there is anything she is nervous about. We also talk about what kinds of things she can do to show Jesus love to her classmates. She's getting big, for sure... but I just love hearing the excitement in her voice as she talks about new adventures. I'm praying daily for wisdom and patience as we experience this new phase together!

I had picked up this book bag for Sadie when we were in TN over Christmas. We saved it for her and surprised her with it the morning of her first day. She was very excited! (She also picked this outfit out herself to wear for her first day. She has agreed that I get to fix her hair every day that she has school without arguing. She has also agreed that I get to approve her outfits... so far she has done VERY well with this! On the other days--anything goes!)

When we picked up her up after her first day, we all went to McDonalds for ice cream cones. I told her that we had another surprise when Daddy got home--that night we all went out for dinner at Burger King (BK is the only place in Streator that has a play land--so it's a special treat!) We enjoyed dinner together and hearing all about Sadie's first day.

These are two of the projects Sadie made this week. They did letter B and had a bumble bee day and a butterfly day. On the butterfly day, she was excited to tell me about they wrapped people up with a big blanket to make a cocoon.