Survival of First Day of "School"....

Well, we all survived Tyler's first day of "school" at the Duke Children's Campus this morning. I'm torn between calling it a "day-care" and a "school" so I may flip flop on you. "Day-care" reminds me of Ms. Debbie's and that is special to us in our own way and "school" seems too formal and something for older kids.

I made sure to snap a picture of Tyler in the morning when he woke up. I mean, how could I not? It is his official first day in "school" with alot of his soon to be toddler friends!

Do you think he looks nervous? Of course not. Do you think I was nervous? Uh, yeah.

Before we left the house, Matt and I prepared a gourmet breakfast for our little dude consisting of a piece of toast, strawberries and string cheese. You see, what I may have left out in prior blog posts is that Tyler is going to be eating like a champ at this new place. Why should I slave in the kitchen when he has his own chef at day-care?!  I mean, come on, they have organic milk delivered every week from a local farm and have fresh meals prepared daily! I haven't seen any take out boxes yet, but I'll be looking. Watch out kids, I eat leftovers.

Matt and I both took Tyler into day-care this morning. Tyler walked around the room and was curious by the other children that were there. Once he let on to the idea that we were not going to stay with him all day, he clung to our legs. When it was time for us to leave, he kicked his legs and sat on the floor and cried. We left the room and turned the corner to listen in. He cried for about two minutes, but was then on a mission to open and close the cabinet drawers.

I called day-care twice to check in on him. Twice is quite an achievement. I could have called every hour but I tried to contain myself. The first time I called, one of Tyler's teachers told me that Tyler had been "sad" most of the morning. Obviously, this made me sad but I was at least glad she was honest! She said Tyler cried when other parents came in and out of to he room to drop off their children. The second time I called, he seemed to be doing better.

All in all - it was a successful day! Matt and I both picked Tyler up from the playground at school. It felt so good to have him back with us! Alot of the other toddlers were drawn to Matt and it was pretty cute. There was a long choo choo lego train. Some of the toddlers were holding onto random pieces of it. The kids kept coming over to Matt to show him their legos. Tyler tugged onto Matt's leg the whole time and looked up at the other kids, like, "Hey, thats my dad!"

The highlight of my day (aside from seeing Tyler, of course) was receiving a written report about Tyler. I love knowing how his day went, good or bad, I always want to know. Here is his first report:

Tyler ate most of his oatmeal with raisins and milk for a morning snack. He ate all of his cheese ravioli and broccoli for lunch. He also had two snacks, watermelon and a ginger muffin, and ate all of those. He took a one hour nap. While this makes me cringe (his usual nap time is 3 hours), I'm surprised he slept at all. It was his first time sleeping in a large room with other kids and his first time sleeping on a mat.

His teacher today, Ms. Crissie, wrote the following, "Today, we welcomed our new friends, Gwen and Tyler, to the class. Tyler explored the block book area and the manipulatives today.When Tyler was playing with teh duplo blocks, he seemed to enjoy himself. He was talking away to himself. Tyler was sad today, but each day, he will learn more of our routine. Welcome to our class!"