I have to admit, while the consistency of transferring from one Primrose to another made it a little less scary, I was worried about him. While it's hard to believe for those that know Jack, he's actually a pretty shy and timid kid at first. It takes him a while to find his comfort zone when he doesn't have Drew or I to rely on. I was bracing myself for tears (his and mine).
Just before we headed out the door I decided I needed to find him some sort of good luck charm. Just a little token from home that he could keep in his pocket for the moments that he was feeling lonely or scared. Of course, with no advanced planning and most of our belongings scattered about in boxes my options were slim to none. That's when I happened to spot 2 yellow Livestrong bracelets at the bottom of my jewelry box. I gave one to Jack and wore one myself. I explained to him that we had special matching bracelets on so that if either of us ever started missing one another we could just look down at our bracelet and know that we were thinking of each other. He loved it.
When we got to school he was clinging to me pretty tight. We went through the motions of finding his hook, hanging up his backpack and meeting his teachers and then it was time to go play. He clung tighter. I reminded him about his bracelet and then asked his teacher if we could draw pictures together for a few minutes before I left. I was sketching a picture of Mickey Mouse (I can draw absolutely nothing...but I do a mean Mickey Mouse!) when another little boy came to sit by us. I asked him his name and he replied, "Jackson". Of course, my Jack's face just lit up and it totally broke the ice. After drawing each Jackson a Mickey Mouse I asked them if they could try to draw one for me and I would pick them up after school when I returned. They were all for it. My Jack gave me a high five and a wave and off I went without even a whimper.
He had a great first day and told me that evening he only had to look at his bracelet one or two times. He wanted to wear it again the next morning, but by day 3 the bracelet was old news and no longer necessary.
The other factor that turned out to be a huge stroke of lucky timing is that this Primrose is still in summer school mode, otherwise known as Camp Primrose. All summer long the Pre-K and school aged kids have field trips every single day. Most are educational and some are just purely fun. Camp Primrose ends on August 16 so Jack's first week and a half included the last batch of field trips as they wrap up their summer fun. In addition to getting to ride the bus (which he thinks is totally cool), he has gone rollerskating, to a ballet, splash park, inflatables gym, gymnastics center, miniature golfing and several picnics at a different park each day (if there's one thing that's plentiful here in the front range, it's parks) Needless to say, getting him out the door in the morning is not hard with such fun activities on the agenda!
Monday morning they're back to the regular school year. With a week and a half under his belt, I'm sure that transition will be totally painless. Jack is thrilled because that means they get to wear uniforms again.
And so we've conquered yet another first day of school. The next one will be Kindergarten. But I'm not ready for that yet.
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