Joel's First Day of Preschool

Yes...Joel started preschool today. I can't believe it! He woke up this morning, and I told him that today was the day we go to school together. He was excited about the "school" part, but not so much about the "together" part.

"Mom, you don't have to go with me. I can do it by myself."

Unfortunately for Joel, Mom came with him! We dropped Grace off with Kara and headed to school. His backpack took up about 80% of his entire body! He looked so cute! He was so excited to get there that he ran ahead of me to get in the door. However, once we got in the building, he realized that having mom there was probably not such a bad idea. By the time we visited the art room and the classroom, he was starting to warm up. It was so fun to see him with all the other kids...singing songs, listening to stories.
We went on a scavenger hunt to find all the different areas of the school. Each spot had a sticker bin so he could put a sticker on his chart. When we were through, we ended up in the gym for a story and snack. He met his first school friend, and is very excited to go back next Tuesday all by himself.

When I picked up Gracie, Kara asked Joel how his first day of school went.

"Perfect," he said.

I love that little man!

Other than the fact that I got a little teary-eyed on the ride to school and that I took seventy-nine pictures between 8-11AM (no...I'm not exaggerating), I did pretty well. It did make me realize, though, how fast he is growing up. (Sigh.)

We celebrated with Grace and Daddy by going out to lunch at McDonald's. It was the first time I saw Joel climb up and down the entire playland without asking for any help. What else would I expect? He IS a preschooler after all!

Coloring his picture...

The scavenger hunt...

Mrs. Modderman reading the kids a story...