First Day of School!!!!

Today was Jacks first day of preschool!!  He is so excited!!  He was up nice and early, showered and ready to go with his Diego backpack!!  It was such a hot day that Jack ended up wearing shorts!

I was so surprised that Jack wasn't nervous at all about going off on his own to school.  Usually during playgroup, he sticks with me and won't go off to play with the other kids.  I didn't know what to expect today.  But as you can see, he looked pretty excited!

Daddy came home from work just before the bus was supposed to come so that he could see Jack off too!  Grandma, Namie, Auntie Scoot and Riley also came!  It was such an exciting day!!

I wish I can say it went without a hitch, but it seemed that anything that could go wrong, did go wrong!  First off, they gave us a bus pickup time and we were prepared for that, but the bus came 1/2 hour early and we missed it!  I called the bus company explaining they told us it would be later, so they came back so that Jack would be able to take the bus into school. 

Then, while we were waiting for it, I fell down the stairs, twisting my ankle pretty badly.  Then while getting ice for my ankle, Jack got stung by a bee on his lip!  It just barely stung him, and the stinger wasn't in there, but it was enough to scare Jack and it hurt a bit! 

But, finally, the bus came, and Jack hopped right up on it, saying goodbye to us as he quickly found a seat. 

He looked out the window and waved as the bus drove off.  Such a brave little guy!!

As the bus drove off, I hopped in my car and raced to the school to see Jack get off the bus, and to make sure he was okay.  Daddy had to go back to work.  When I got to the school, the bus was just pulling up and Miss Brown went right over to help him off the bus!! 

I went with him to his classroom where he had a chance to meet the assistant teacher, Mrs. Long!

Jack came home 3 1/2 hours later, excited about his first day.  They read stories, colored, and sang songs!!  Lots of fun!!

Preschool orientation!!

Today is Jacks preschool orientation!!  He found out that his teacher will be Miss Brown and that he will be going to the afternoon session. 

Orientation day, they pick the kids and their parents up on the school bus and let the kids see what it's like to take a bus. 

Daddy had a meeting at work, so he wasn't able to go, but Jack and I hopped on the school bus when it stopped by our house!  Jack was excited, but a bit nervous.  He isn't used to how the bus bounces all around when it goes over the bumpy roads, and when we hit a big bump, Jack bumped his head on the window....ouch!

We got to school, and found his classroom and Miss Brown!  She is very nice and there are so many fun things in the classroom...toys, books, and a train table!! 

Miss Brown talked to the parents, handed out folders with school information and talked to the kids.  She even read them a story!  I have a feeling that Jack is going to LOVE school!!  And I know he is going to love Miss Brown!!

Jacks going to school!!!

I can't believe Jack is old enough for school already!!  It seems like just yesterday he was a little baby, just taking those first steps, but here it is, time for preschool!!

All the paperwork has been filled out, Jack had his physical, and now we are going to preschool screening!

Jack and I went to the school where they 'tested' him on various things to see where he stands both with language, perception, what he knows so far.  He met with one of the school readiness teachers.  I was quite sure he would be nervous, cling to my leg and not speak to anyone, but he really proved me wrong!!

The first test was seeing if he could stack blocks in the same way the teacher built hers...he did pretty good, you could tell he was really thinking about it, and when he couldn't quite do it exactly like hers, he looked at her and said, "it's not really the same, but it's pretty close!".   :)

Then he had to sort little plastic bears by color and size, which he had no problem with at all.

Next, the teacher read him 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.  He talked about the story with her as she read it, asking questions and explaining to her that butterflies have wings so that they can fly, and that ladybugs also have wings to fly.  (That's my boy!!)

The last thing he did was draw a picture of anything he wanted.  It looked like a big scribble to me, but when she asked him what it was, he said it was a monster.  When she asked where it lived, he said "Africa"!  See that, he already knows geography!!  :):)

Afterwards, we stopped at McDonalds for a Happy Meal then went to a playground nearby for a picnic lunch, some playtime and geocaching!! 

Preschool screening day!

Today was Jacks preschool screening....I have to admit, I was soooooo nervous about this.  Jack is a very quiet, shy kid when he's around other people, especially people he doesn't know.  All I could picture was him clinging to my leg and not talking at all to the teachers.      BOY DID HE PROVE ME WRONG!!  :)

He sat right next to one of the teachers, and she started asking him some basic questions.  He answered them all, without any prodding from me!  He did pretty good on the 'stacking the blocks the same way as the teacher' test.  It didn't turn out quite like the teachers, but very close.  He looked at his when he was done and said, "Mine doesn't look exactly like yours, but it's pretty close!"   I thought that was pretty funny!

Next test was finding all of the blue little plastic teddy bears out of about 30 multi-colored bears and putting them in a basket.  PERFECT!  At one point, he questioned weather a purple one was blue, asking the teacher, "is this one blue?  or is it purple....hmmm....I think it's purple, so it doesn't belong in the basket."  Nice job Jack!  I even questioned it...it was very close to the blue color!

Then the teacher read "The Very Hungry Catapillar" to Jack....he sat there listening to every word, asking questions along the way.  She got to the page when the caterpillar turned to a butterfly and Jack said "That sure is a very beautiful butterfly!  It was wings just like a ladybug!  Those are so they can fly!  Butterflies and ladybugs both fly!"   I thought that was pretty good!!

The last thing Jack had to do is color a picture of anything he wanted....when the teacher asked what it was, he said, "A monster!".  She asked where he lived, and he answered, "Africa!".  That's my boy!  (He is at least enjoying learning about other countries through our postcrossing project!)

I think he did a great job and definitely showed his personality!!  I wish more people could see that part of him...usually he's too shy!

Afterwards, we grabbed some food for lunch and had a picnic at the playground to celebrate! 

 Jack had a great time on the playscape and even found a little friend there.  Jack asked him if he wanted to go down the slide together....another surprise today!!  Jack doesn't usually just start talking to other kids, it usually takes him a while, but he had so much fun with this boy.

Our last bit of fun for the day??  Uncle Chris took Jack, Hannah, and Luke out on the ATV for a ride through the woods on a trail and through the blueberry fields!  Jack had a blast!