Wednesday, September 9, 2009

First Day of School for My Little Caterpillar

Yesterday was Aiden's first day in the toddler program at The River School! They have two classes for his age that meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he is in the Caterpillar/Butterfly class. I've already said it, but I just can't say it enough, this school is AMAZING! Now, I think I may be a little nutso for taking him here, because to get there, which is 37 miles from our house, took over TWO HOURS ... with the last four miles taking a good half hour! I obviously need to find a new route because that's just pure insanity. The drive home was MUCH better though and we were home within 45 minutes. So, needless to say, Aiden was late for his first day ... oh well, we'll get it down.

On our way to school!

Aiden's cubby with the caterpillar he colored at the teacher's homevisit.

Aiden had a wonderful first day! For the last week, we've been talking to him about school and showing him pictures of his teachers, the classroom, and the playground to help prepare him for the transition. Once in his classroom, he immediately wanted to get down and play and from then on, he didn't look up more than twice to see if we were still there. He was good to go. His speech pathologist told us he cried a total of five minutes for the three and a half hours there. Pretty good for a boy who's never left his mommy's side!

"I'll be just fine mom and dad!"

Snack time!

I LOVE to draw!

Here's what Aiden did on his first day (per an email from his teachers, which we will receive each day detailing specific activities from class):

  • Sensory Table - Use cups to scoop and pour colored water.
  • Circle Time - Teachers will introduce our name song and we will meet a caterpillar and a butterfly puppet.
  • Dramatic play/theme - We will play with caterpillar and butterfly puppets and pretend to feed them the food from the story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".
  • Art - We will use dot markers to decorate caterpillars for our classroom window.
  • Books - "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and our class book, "Caterpillar, Caterpillar, Who Do You See?"
  • Mouth Time - We will have fun with bubbles and introduce our Mouth Time character.

The day ends with some fun playground time!

Aiden was very excited to see us at the end of class. After his daddy picked him up, he took one look at his teachers, waved bye-bye and blew them a kiss. The boy was ready to go. He was asleep within five minutes in the car. They wore him out!

Oh, and a lot of these pictures of him throughout the day came from his teachers to us in an email, detailing Aiden's first day! Did I tell you how excited I am for my little monkey?!?

9 comments:

leah said...

What an AWESOME day! I love the fact that they email you a daily report and pictures. Nolan starts a (mainstream) 2 year old class next week, but we have no idea what they do for the 1.5 hours they're in there (other than the artwork we get back)! There are times I wish we had an oral school closer, but I can't drive 2 hours each way (to the BUffalo school) because Matt has preschool, too.

monica said...

bless your little caterpillar! it would be great if alexander were there with aiden. i know Ben is, have you met him yet. great family!
alexander begins at camelot next fall...it seems so far away.

The Brights said...

How awesome! You all are so lucky to have such great resources nearby...too bad the drive stinks!

Aiden is going to do so wonderful there! I am excited for you all and I am looking forward to watching him progress throughout the year.

Here's hoping he adjusts wonderfully.

Love the zonked out picture!

tammy said...

Thanks all! We are SO lucky to have this school nearby (well, it is close, drive just stinks) and are blessed that it's all worked out where I can take him two days a week!

Leah, I bet Nolan's going to LOVE school and with his recent language explosions, just wait!

Alexander's mom - We meet Ben on Tues. Kate and I are meeting for coffee while the boys are in class together! I can't wait to meet them! You'll have to meet up with us sometime with Alexander too!

The Coleman Crew said...

I can not believe how big he has gotten! It feels like just yesterday I was 3 months pregnant and babysitting him when he was about 2 months old so you and Mike could go out for dinner! Now Tristan is 9 days shy of turning one and Aiden is a little man! Time flies so fast. He looks great and that school looks wonderful. :)

Bill and Shelly said...

Looks like he had a great day!!
It is great that you found a school for him. I hope you are able to find a better route to school. I understand about DC/Maryland traffic.
I love the fact that the teachers emailed you a report of the day and the pictures.....what a great idea.

AJ's Mom said...

What an awesome day Aiden had!! Isn't it great to know your little man is just going to thrive in such a wonderful place!!!

Oh, and I'm excited he was drawing with his left hand!! (I'm a lefty!!) My favorite picture is the zonked out one too!

Happy 1st Day Aiden, looks like you had a fantastic day!!

Danielle said...

awesome so happy for you all...

PolyglotMom said...

River sounds like an amazing place! How awesome that they send you email updates with pictures! I hope it continues to go so well! Can't wait to hear how he continues to do!