Parent's Day Out

Over the Summer I went back and forth with the idea of Parents Day Out for Johanna. It is a pre-preschool program from children 18months-3years old at our church (and others). My debate was I'm a stay-at-home Mom, do I really need to put her into a class it's not like my job is so hard I need a break! But after talking to several other Moms and some research I decided we wanted to try it out for her benefit. Johanna loves learning new things right now and I knew the group interactions and adult instruction would be great for her. We cut back her baby gym class over the Summer to save up for her class which is only fifty dollars more a month for four times the amount of time!

 Last week we went to meet the teachers day. Johanna is familiar with our Church's school especially the nursery area so she was super excited as we were walking up to the entrance. When we didn't make a stop at the park and proceeded to enter into her classroom to meet her teacher who happened to be an older lady Johanna wasn't having it. "Hold you! Hold you Mama!" Just our luck her teacher is an older lady (Johanna's biggest fear right now, hehe...) Miss Paula is a retired flight attendant and so super nice but Johanna wasn't too sure about her, she had her eyes on her the entire time we were there. Miss B is a retired elementary teacher of 27 years, Johanna didn't mind her. Toward the end Johanna's curiosity took over and she wanted down to explore the room with the other kids. Then we searched for her name and cubby hole. Johanna is in the White Angels class on Tuesdays for four hours with 8 other kids her age. After leaving I was excited for the year but nervous for how she would do.

 Miss Paula and Miss B sent us home with a homework assignment to take pictures of things that are important to you and bring them to class for an art project for their first day. Johanna had a hard time deciding between her picture of princesses or baby Nathan.

 We had been reminding Johanna her first day of school was coming up so the morning of her big day she was extra goofy. When I came in to get her she was jumping up and down in her crib full of beans.

Her silliness continued at breakfast time of course.

 She also insisted on sitting in a big chair no booster seat. I guess she just felt like she was such a big girl going to school now!

Since Parent's Day Out isn't exactly preschool I wasn't sure if I was going to bother with a bunch of pictures. Ha! Me, no pictures?

Peanut posing by her class tree being a goofball

And her big day arrived! With butterflies in my stomach and Johanna nothing but excited we walked to class. Luckily I knew several other Mommy's from our Mom's and Tots group so it was very reassuring to see them there with their kids. We put Johanna's bag in her cubby and I took her to the door to her class. Johanna started to get a little nervous and clung to my pants. Miss Paula was there to pick her up and give her extra snuggles as we said goodbye. After dropping her off I headed over to a parents meeting for information on the upcoming year. We started off with an opening prayer which acknowledged the victims and survivors of 9/11 which of course made me cry (so I guess I have to say I cried on Johanna's first day haha.) After our meeting I was really excited for her year; she is in great loving hands and the program sounds like so much fun! Walking out I got to take a peek into Johanna's room. She was sitting at the mini table in her mini chair working on her activity, a placement for lunch time. She was having so much fun!

Johanna's first day was only a half day to acclimate the children. JJ and I decided to stay around the area to get some chores done. Our first was a trip to Home Depot for some boy stuff, look how much fun he had there!

Our second stop was to JoAnn fabric for some girl stuff... look how excited he was for this store ;) Okay not going to lie, I really enjoyed the one on one time with JJ and the convenience of shopping with only one child. I am going to take full advantage of my Tuesdays that's for sure!

Pick up time was here before I knew it so we rushed back eager to see how Peanut did. When we walked to her class some of the other kids had been picked up already so of couse mass hysteria had broken out. Johanna was sitting on her teacher's lap reading a book and seemed to be just fine. As soon as she saw me she started crying of course and ran up to me for a big hug. She calmed down right away though and when I asked her how school was she exclaimed 'fun!' then turned around and said 'bye bye teachers!' When we got to the parking lot she didn't even want to leave. As we were leaving she started making her sign of the cross "Fad-der, Son, Holy spir-RIT!" They do grace before snacks so she was already learning something! ...and that made it all worth it to me :)

With the first crazy half day of school over I am excited to see her go back next week for a normal full day. My little girl is growing up!