first day of preschool

today was Brady's first day of preschool.  he has been so ridiculously excited for this.  he was giddy in bed last night and having trouble falling asleep because he was just that excited.  I had to walk him in because of the rule that you have to sign your preschooler in and out of the classroom.  just a liiiiittle annoying since parking is busy and I had to park practically down by the church and hike the kids all up this hill and up the ramp and down the hallway to the classroom.  I didn't time it exactly but it took nearly 20 minutes to drop Brady off at school... which is ridiculous because it is in our neighborhood.  sorry for the random venting tangent.  it was Brady's first day and he was crazy excited and he and Abigail just took off walking to school.  no one really noticed that I was still there.

I'm gonna say that he just happened to be blinking and that he wasn't trying to avoid the paparazzi.  see the church in the background? we parked way over there by that intersection.  Brady and Abigail walked ahead of me and I had to yell to them to stop when they got to the playground area.  I had to tell Abigail that she could go ahead and walk to her area to join her class but that I had to take Brady with me up to where the preschoolers go.  I love that neither of them thought they needed me for anything.  I seriously could have turned around back to my car and neither would have noticed.

so I walked Brady to his classroom and he marched in and I signed my name on the paper next to his name and I turned around back to my car.  neither of us said goodbye or hugged or even made eye contact.  I was invisible to him.  so proud of that kid.  he's come a long way.

I came home and danced with Elizabeth to some Disney princess music (and then sat down because I'm out of shape and got winded too easily) and even wrote a bit of a blog post.  and then I talked mom's ear off again, mostly just complaining forever about how it took me 20 minutes to drop Brady at school and it's insane that they require an adult signature when this kid is totally self sufficient. she listened so patiently and always knew the perfect times to interject how ridiculous everything was.

so then I went to pick Brady up.  I parked closer but still worked up a sweat lugging Andrew's carseat and coaxing Elizabeth along behind me.  I picked him up and he just started gushing about how great preschool was and I was all "dangit, if you'd hated it, I could have just pulled you out and we would both be fine!" ha.  but he loved it so I marched us all to the front office and told them I needed to figure out a solution.  I was just going to ask for a phone number for someone in the district that I could talk to and hopefully sign a waiver or something but the lady at the front desk helped me out so personally instead.  I added her to my emergency contacts and, with her help, I'll now be able to drop off and pick up Brady in the regular carpool lane without getting out of my car.  I wanted to cry tears of joy but I just gave her a sweaty hug (remember that trek up the hill with Andrew's carseat?!) and told her how appreciative I was.  so now I can happily keep this guy in his little preschool class.

which I'm trying to figure out because something is weird about it and I can't get a straight answer.  the other class is big, but his is small.  there were only three other students.  so Brady said there were four kids and four teachers.  he probably thinks that's normal to have an equal number of kids and teachers.  after we met three or four teachers during the meet and greet Brady asked me if they would all be his teachers and I said yes.  then he was all "then who will be the teachers for the other kids?!"  haha.  I told him there would be lots of kids and they would all share all of the teachers.  now he probably thinks I'm a liar because his classroom currently has a 1:1 ratio.  they said more kids would fill in as the year progressed.  I'm still curious what's going on though.

I tried to get a "first day of school" picture of this kid.  he was too cool for pictures so this is what I've got.  apparently, even in preschool, he thinks I'm just that embarrassing mom.

Sarah told me she was going to the pool from 11:30-1 so I grabbed swimsuits and snacks for the kids and we went straight to the pool.  Brady asked to go home because he didn't want to swim but I told him no.  I wanted to hang out with my friends.  actually, I phrased it a little more nicely and said something like "well, you don't have to swim... you can just eat you snacks and hang out with Norah if you want."  so he and Elizabeth ate the whole time and I sat in a pool chair and watched Sarah and Jill do water aerobics or whatever that was.  and entertained the thought of joining the gym because they're always trying to get me to do that.  I seriously was soooo close to joining last year but I got pregnant instead.

anyways, we hung out til 1:15, chatted with Jodi a little after (she was across the street at the playground), and then headed home.  Elizabeth went down for a nap by 2, Brady and I worked together on his kindergarten prep workbook, and then I put Andrew down for a nap, put a learning show on for Brady (he chose the one on opposites), and called mom.  because she's my favorite person.  I mean, my husband is.  but really I just can't get enough of mom.  she celebrated with me about figuring out a solution that allows me to drop off and pick up Brady without getting out of my car.  holy cow that has been really stressful for me over the last week or two and it feels SO good to have it taken care of! I still can't believe it.

picked Abigail up at 4 and, since it started raining (because it literally does every afternoon), I took the kids upstairs for us to read books together.  it was great until I started falling asleep, but luckily Kelsey started texting me so I woke up to respond.  except, I was half asleep when I was responding so I actually had written several long texts to her before I realized that I was having this conversation with Kelsey and not with Christopher.  I was really relieved that I didn't say anything weird in there that would have given me away.  it all was perfectly normal.

walked downstairs to find the kids just all hanging out, spinning around on that red chair.  for as much as they all can get on each other's nerves and Abigail can say that she doesn't like Brady, these guys are pretty inseparable.

also, this guy.  just goes with the flow and puts up with so much.  even if he does look terrified the whole time.

I mean for real.  but also, his face is maturing so so so fast.  he's growing up so fast and I feel so guilty about it because I barely get to even notice him during the day.  he's like a pet rock but also kind of just like a fly on the wall.  always there but never really noticeable.  let it be known though that I love him so so so much and am infinitely appreciative of how good he is to me.  so far with my four kids, the harder the pregnancy, the easier the baby.  but also so far with my oldest two kids, the easier the baby, the harder the big kid.  so, Andrew is probably going to be horrendous and I'll just pay for it in a few years.  ; )  in the meantime, I'll just soak up this little frightened face as best I can.

who can't wait for the second day of preschool? y'know... besides Brady.  on the drive home from picking Abigail up he kept telling her how great school was and how fun it was.  "it was sooo fun! I thought school would be boring but it was so fun!" Abigail was like "what?! no! school isn't boring! school is AWESOME!"

first, I love that Abigail practically sang the lego song when she said that school was awesome.  second, hilarious that Brady has been soooooo unbearably excited for preschool even though he anticipated it being boring.  ha.  he truly really does just like anything that will make him big or grown up.

and just for me to remember... I asked him this morning what he was most excited for about preschool and he said "learning." I asked him about learning what and he said something about learning about the library at school.  ha.  I wonder if he really will learn anything this year.  we'll see!