Preschool, 2.0.

Year numero dos of preschool started a couple of weeks ago. To say Brooke was excited is an understatement. She spent the entire summer longing for school to come back. So as the weeks started dwindling, a pretty severe countdown to school began.

We spent a lot of time talking about her new classroom and her new teachers; we wanted to make sure she understood that this year wouldn't be the same as last year. She's going to the same school, but that's where the similarities ended - new teachers, new classroom, new routine, all new classmates (9 of the 12 kids from her class last year are in the other class, including her bestie; she somehow ended up with only 1 boy from last year in her class this year.) She was pretty shy and nervous at her Open House the week before; she was jazzed to go, but the nerves kicked in when we got there.

The excitement was hard to contain the night before the first day. She got her back to school pajamas (a family tradition we started last year), and, while it was a million degrees outside, she was insistent on wearing the long-sleeved jammies that night.

Donuts for breakfast on the 1st day of school is another tradition we started last year. She was thrilled!

When it was time to go, she was all-smiles in her new shoes. She was happy to pull that Minnie backpack from last year out of her closet for the first time!

Little brother was more than a little jealous, so he needed to put his Curious George backpack on for some photos.

This year, her teachers asked the parents to make it a very quick goodbye in the classroom to help minimize the separation anxiety. There was no anxiety with this one! Once she hung up her backpack, she was quick with a hug for me and then off to find her spot on the carpet.

 

So far, she seems to be doing really well in her class. Every day they read a book on the carpet and every day she is able to explain to me what the book was about (which impresses me.) She absolutely LOVES to spend her free time at the craft table; she gets to use scissors and a glue stick every day! It doesn't sound like she's really interacting with the other kids much yet, but I think that's pretty typical of this age. Because she's old enough to be dropped off at the door this year, I don't get much interaction with her teachers. The one time I really spoke to them, her main teacher commented that she was 3 "going on 14". So....yeah. Evidently, Little Miss Personality has already crept out in her new class!

 

Because I never got around to posting her End of School pics in May, here's a quick comparison of her First and Last days from last year. I've also included the before & after of her school shoes; pretty telling, if you ask me :)