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This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Maya’s school. Today is National Teacher Day. Around the country, around Maya’s school, kids are saying “Thank You” to the people who make a giant impact on their lives. Saying “Thank You” to the teachers who help shape and mold them into the adults they will eventually become. Parents are saying “Thank You” to the teachers who care for, educate and help shape their beloved children.
Right inside the doors of Maya’s school there was a table filled with crayons and little paper flowers so that the kids could create a little something for their teachers. As we walked the halls, passed the doors of the other classrooms, we saw dozens of paper flowers taped to the doors. Each flower was brightly colored in the scribbles of 3 and 4 year olds and donned with the name of one of the students in the class. The little flowers a cheerful symbol of how loved each one of the teachers in Maya’s school is.
When I chose Maya’s preschool I knew it was highly rated and confident it would be a good match for Maya and our family. I had no way of knowing just how amazing this school truly is. The teachers are all very highly educated and love, LOVE, their jobs and the school. They are passionate about children, learning and are creative too the core. The school is extremely well run, the administrators just as wonderful as the teacher themselves. The parents are friendly, involved and supportive. Walking the halls of the school every where you look there are children smiling and enjoying every bit of their day at school. The school is everything I could have dreamed of and more. Maya’s teachers are a big part of making that so.
I sent Maya to school today with strawberries and cream muffins for her teachers to say a big “Thanks”. Her teachers, especially Mrs. M, have been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better first teacher for Maya. Mrs. M is outgoing, fun, loving and creative. She brings out the best in Maya. Maya has grown in leaps and bounds this year. She has come out of her shell and isn’t held back by her shyness anymore. I have Mrs. M to thank for that. I don’t know if Maya will remember Mrs. M years from now, but I will be sure to remind her of her truly wonderful first teacher.
Thank You, Mrs. M. Thank You.
Today is Maya’s 100th day of preschool. 100 school days ago I took this picture of her. Unsure of how the first day was going to go. Unsure of how she was going to take to school (confident she would love it, but definitely not sure).
The last 100 school days have brought her much fun, much happiness, much learning, much growing and many new friends. She has loved each and every one of those 100 days of school.
Today they are celebrating those 100 days. They are going to share a special snack. Each kiddo is bringing in 100 of their choice snack, Maya brought in 100 Cheez-its. They are going to be singing some of their favorite songs, including Maya’s favorite “The Spaceship Song”. They are going to be talking about the lists they made of their 5 favorite things they have learned about so far.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to say that Maya loves school. Given her propensity to shyness and her antics last winter when I tried to send her into her gymnastics class alone, I was really worried that it would take her some time, perhaps even a lot of time, to adjust to going to school. Deep down I knew she would love it once she got adjusted, but I didn’t know what to expect from her at first.
We are in week number 3 of the school year and Maya is just in love with going to school. When she gets up in the morning she always asks if she “gets to go to school this day?” 
Other than a few tears, that according to her teacher only lasted a couple of minutes, on her first day of school drop off has been a breeze. Thursday when I dropped her off she barely said goodbye before running into her class room. It is going better than I even could have hoped. I never imagined that on her 3rd day of school she’d already be at the running into class with barely a look back stage, I love it.
She is getting so much out of it too. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick her up from school at lunchtime she is full of stories about all the things she did in class that day. She sings the songs they have been learning in class all day long. She talks about her new little friends and all the things they played with. She adores her teachers. She is so proud of her little art projects at the end of the day. Not to mention that she is constantly playing school at home now too, either with Lorne and I or her dolls as her “students”.
The smiles on her face when I drop her off and the bigger smiles on her face when I pick her up just melt my heart.
Today was a big day for Maya, it was her first day of preschool.
She has been filled with excitement and nerves about the whole idea of starting school for weeks. Most days she went back and forth between liking the idea of starting school and kind of wanting to go and saying she didn’t like school and just wanted to stay home with me. We spent a lot of time talking about what she could expect and really talking up how much fun she would have. As the big day drew closer we took her out to pick out a first day of school outfit and a new backpack. It all helped to increase the excitement and decrease the nerves.
This morning at drop off I could sense her nerves and was a bit worried about how the drop off would go. She cried, as I expected, but I stayed positive and said my good byes. Her teacher did a great job of diverting her attention and I walked out the door. When I went back to pick her up a few hours later she was all smiles and full of stories about what she did. Ms. Melinda said she stopped crying pretty much right after I left and had a great day.
I’m so proud of her. Her first day of school was a huge success and she can’t wait to go back and do it all over again next week.
This month, around our house, is going to be all about routine change. In less than three weeks Maya starts preschool (still can’t quite believe it). With the start of preschool comes the need for a few bad habits to be changed around here and the need for a new quick, manageable morning routine that will allow us to get out the door in time for school drop off.
When I signed Maya up for preschool last fall she was definitely a morning person. She was consistently waking up between 6:30am and 7:00am every morning. The morning was her most cheerful time and she was still napping most days in the afternoon. So, given what our routine at the time was I figured morning preschool would be the best for her. When we found out, in May, about our Tuesday/Thursday morning spot opening up for the new school year I started to regret my decision to go with mornings, but it was too late. A lot has changed in our lives and in Maya routine since last fall when I first added her to the wait list. She no longer gets up as early. Some mornings she sleeps until 8am or so and it takes her forever to get going in the morning. Plus, she is no longer napping in the afternoons. Not to mention, of course, I now have a newborn to get ready to go in the morning too. But, since no afternoon spots were available, we’re just going to have to make it work. I foresee some crazy frantic mornings in our future while we adjust.
In order to control the chaos that will be the first few weeks of school as we adjust to the new schedule I am implementing a few routine changes around here over the next few weeks.
The first big change is how and where we eat breakfast. Maya has never been a fan of eating as soon as she gets up, she would rather play for a bit. And, we have developed this nasty habit of eating in the family room so she can play/watch television while she eats. I admit this is totally my fault, I should never have started this bad habit in the first place. It was just easy because it allowed her to eat breakfast at her own pace and play at the same time. However, now we won’t have time for that on school days. So, we are starting a new routine of eating breakfast as soon as we get up at the dining room table. This morning was our first go and it went pretty well. She only ate about half her breakfast before claiming she was full and getting down to go play. It didn’t take long before she was hungry and asking for snacks though. It’ll get better I’m sure. Hopefully, by the time August 18th rolls around she’ll be eating all her breakfast, quickly, at the table every morning.
Next week our big routine adjustment is going to be wake up time. Lorne gets up every morning around 6:00am (ish) to get ready for work. My plan is to get up at the same time and shower and then wake Maya up around 6:30am to get our day started. I want to make sure we have plenty of time in the mornings so that we aren’t too rushed. At first I’ll make her do this every day so she gets used to it. Over time, as she adjusts to the school days schedule, I’ll let her return to waking on her own on non-school days.
The wrench in all of this, the unknown, is Anna and when she is going to want to eat. But, we’ll just have to take that as it comes and hopefully I’ll be able to get her into a good routine that works around Maya’s school schedule.
It’ll all work out, I just have to keep telling myself that.