Noah's First Day of School

Noah started Pre-K 4 at South City Community School last Thursday. I have been excited about him starting his "big school," and he's been looking forward to it too...although I think I may have overwhelmed him by making such a big deal about it.  The night before his first day, Grams and Pops (who are visiting for the kids' birthdays) gave him an early birthday gift...a book bag! A real one. Like, it's about as big as him big. I love it!  And after dinner, we practiced unlocking the snaps and taking out his lunchbox and thermos and closing it back up. The snaps were a little hard for him, but luckily the bag has a side zipper that Noah likes to think of as a "secret compartment."

The morning of, I made specially requested "brown with blueberries on the side" pancakes. (whole wheat with blueberries.) And all morning I was a totally hyper mama, going on and on about how big he was and how excited I was about him having the best FIRST day of school! After he started complaining that he didn't feel so well, I took it down a notch. It was time to go, and we hauled his chalkboard that read "First day of Pre K" (courtesy of Pops) out onto the front stoop, hurriedly took some pictures of him wearing his ginormous book bag, and then Matt and I rushed him out the door. 

Once at school we both walked him up to his class room, helped him hang his book bag and place his lunch box in his cubby. He did great. We were then told to take him to the playroom, and he immediately spotted his close friend Saylah. He walked up to her, tapped her arm to get her to look at him. She glanced at him and then continued playing, and Noah turned back to us and said, "she didn't say anything." He is so dependent on this little friend! I encouraged him just to start playing beside her. We gave big hugs, said our goodbyes and stepped out of the room. We hid with our backs against the hallway wall, as his teacher led the class out of the playroom, into the hallway and down to their classroom. He was so focused on staying in line, he didn't see us at all. 

And that was it. And I didn't cry. In fact, I didn't even think about crying! It wasn't until later when a friend asked me if I cried that I realized I hadn't! I still can't believe it. I think I'm just so excited for him. I just know he's going to really thrive this year, and I can't wait to see it start to happen. I feel very contented and secure about our school choice, and I have peace about him being away from me a couple of days a week. 

Our little guy is in Pre-K.

Bullies

The mama bird comes out in me when other kids pick on Noah. I just want to hurt them! He is so sweet (most of the time); he even calls all kids "friends," and when they pick on him, it revs up this fire in me that is consuming! A little girl (she couldn't have been more than 7) kept calling him a "pip-squeek."  He came and told me this was happening, and I told him next time she said it to say, "it's not nice to call me names" and walk away.
On the way home, he told me that he did tell her that, and she called him a pip-squeek again. How do you teach your child being a jerk and calling people names or being cruel isn't OK, when other kids are doing it?! Oh, this fires me up!
Noah is certainly not an angel, but he IS fairly innocent still, and things like this chip away at that state. This world is so cruel and broken.
Watch out mean kids...mama bird will not sit silently next time!