Jack's second day of preschool

Jack's second day of preschool went much better than his first. I was a little worried as we walked up to his classroom when he said, "Mommy, don't drop me off. Mommy stay and play with the number puzzles."

I told him, "Jack, Mommy can't stay, but you'll have fun with Miss Margaret and A [the other little boy]. And then Mommy will come back to pick you up. Mommy always comes back, remember?"

Then he said, "Mommy stay for a few minutes and then drop me off. Do we have a deal?"

(This last part made me laugh. I frequently make little "deals" with him as inducements for good behavior.)

"Yes, Jack," I said. "We have a deal."

We went to the classroom, and Miss Margaret got out a number puzzle for him. I sat with him for about five minutes and then I told him, "Jack, Mommy has to leave in two minutes." I showed him my watch. "When the second hand goes around Mommy's watch two times, it's time for Mommy to leave."

With ten seconds left, I told him, "Let's count down now."

So we counted down, "10...9...8..." down to "1." Then I told him, "Bye-bye, Jack. I'll see you soon."

He turned around as I walked out the door. He looked a little stricken as I walked out, but he didn't start crying.

When I came back to pick him up, the teacher told me he did really well. She said he didn't cry immediately after I left, but he did a few minutes later when he looked around and realized I really wasn't there. She said that she held him and brought him to circle time with the other preschool kids. At first he was just watching on her lap, but then he wanted to participate and actually got down on the floor with the other children. She said they also worked on puzzles, played with shaving cream (good for exposure to different textures), and practiced using scissors. When I arrived, he was in the sand box making Mommy a pie.

I took it as a good sign that he was having so much fun he didn't want to leave. I also took it as a good sign that he didn't remember having cried after I left, because it's usually the emotionally traumatic events that he talks about after any given activity. When I asked him if he cried at all at Miss Margaret's, he said, "No, I didn't." When I talked about going back next week, he said, "I won't cry when Mommy drops me off."

Fingers crossed.