his first day

Yesterday was Asher's first day of preschool.  I've mentioned a few times that he would be starting a school program this year and Tuesday was the beginning!

I don't think he totally understood what "going to school" meant, but Drew and I talked it up a lot and Asher was excited to wear his backpack and "go school, play kids."

Of course I had to get some photos of my little big guy on his first morning.  I didn't have a cute sign that I've seen so many other mamas using - maybe in the spring.  This is what happens if I ask him to say "cheese" - it's very literal.  :-)

Initially Asher was much more interested in ringing our doorbell than in standing still and looking at me. 

As someone who photographs a 2.5 year old by myself all the time, I've come to expect this and tried to roll with it.  ha!

He did eventually look my way {to point out a pick-up truck driving by...} and I took full advantage.

This is such a classic Asher smirk.  Love him.

Once we got to school nerves took over a bit, for both of us.  His school is at a church, but not the one we attend, so Asher wasn't quite sure why we were there.

After a couple seconds of hand holding he was ready to speed ahead of me.  :-)

We found his classroom, hung up his backpack, and got ready to say goodbye.  Asher tried to pull me inside to "play mommy" and it broke my heart to say I'd see him later and leave him in his teacher's hands.  They were SO great about giving me a comforting smile and distracting Asher with toys. 

I hung around out of sight, but within earshot for a few minutes to see if he would lose it.  He didn't.  He did fantastic - no crying at all.

When I came back to pick him up he was sitting with a teacher {there are 3 in his class}.  The instant he saw me the poor guy broke into the ugly cry.  Huge tears, loud sobs.  Miss Amanda said, "oh, he is so happy to see you and overwhelmed with joy that you're back - bless his little heart."  And it was true.  Asher didn't cry the whole morning, but once he saw me I think the emotional toll of the day caught up with him.

As we were leaving I asked what he did this morning and all he would say was "back with mommy." 

I missed you too, buddy.  He did fill me in on his activities a little bit later on - apparently they had "happy cake" for snack {a classmate brought cupcakes for his birthday} so it's no wonder he liked school!  His teacher warned me that often the 2nd day is harder than the 1st since a lot of the kiddos don't realize this whole school thing is a repeat scenario.  Asher goes again tomorrow so we'll see how he fairs!

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement.  This is a big step for us, but we're excited to see what the year brings!