Ryan's birthday, part 3: preschool

On the Monday after Ryan's birthday, I got to assist in his preschool class and we had yet another celebration with his turtle friends. While I was there, I also documented some of Ryan's day at preschool.

Here he is with his friends, playing play dough (one of their arrival activities):

He got to be the "special helper" of the day - one of his responsibilities was helping with morning meeting. Here he is with Miss Pam, counting out the days of the month:

Playground time is one of his favorite parts of the day. Here he's climbing on the train with his friend, Tierney:

The birthday celebrant gets to hold the "birthday bear" who sings "happy birthday" - Ryan must have told me at least a dozen times about this leading up to the day. He was the last birthday in his class, so he had seen everybody else get their turn. Needless to say, he was very excited!

And since it was a beautiful day, we had a picnic snack, complete with cupcakes (with "frosting & sprinkles!" as Ryan says):



Finally, here they are doing "Bop 'til you drop" - Ryan's dancing with his friend, Kyla. Can you tell he likes the girls?


Ryan clearly felt very special & loved, and it was a joy for me to be there to see it! He sure is going to miss his turtle friends this summer. Speaking of which, here he is on the first & last days of his first year of preschool. Hasn't he grown so much?

Best or Worst?

When I found out that Ryan's first day of preschool would be on my birthday, I had to wonder to myself: Will this be the best or worst birthday present?

We've been talking a lot about his turtle class & his teacher, Miss Pam. He had an open house last week, so he had some idea what to expect. He seemed excited, but sometimes, he's hard to read.

I, on the other hand, have been a nervous wreck and not nearly as excited about leaving him 3 mornings a week (2 for preschool & 1 for bible study) as I thought I might be when we signed up months ago. It seemed logical: "I'll be almost 8 months pregnant when he starts, so I'll want the extra rest, and of course once the baby is born, it will be great to have the alone time with him." But I am finding that being away from my baby is harder than it seems. I have been accustomed to spending all day every day with him for the past 2+ years after all!

Regardless, I know it is good for both of us, and so here we go. Today went better than expected - he went right into his room, sat down with some play dough, and when I told him to be good, he said "okay", gave me a kiss, and looked at me like he was ready to go. The leaving was no problem for either of us. Hooray! I definitely didn't think we'd get through that without one of us crying.

Best I can tell, he had a good time. He didn't talk much about it, which my mom tells me I'll have to get used to, having boys :-) And I have to admit that it was nice to have a couple of uninterrupted hours at home to work on preparing the nursery for our next baby.

Here are some required "first day of school" pictures prior to leaving:

classic

not sure what this face is all about


He got distracted by the garbage trucks

There's something innately cute about a tiny backpack on a tiny person


And here he is afterward, flirting with his girlfriend Emma while waiting for her big sister (and another best friend) Sophia to get out of her class. We all went to a double-celebratory lunch afterward at Souper Salad & had a GREAT time. Thanks, Smith ladies :-)


That evening, I got to celebrate my birthday some more with my wonderful local family, who made me feel so special & loved!


me & Ryan, before a yummy dinner at Maggiano's!


... and one (final?) pregnancy photo with my sister-in-law who is due on the 25th. Can't wait to meet that baby & see these cousins grow up together :-)


Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special & Ryan's first day of school so manageable :-)