Bryson Boys

Today was "The Big Day"! Dylan's first day of school. He seemed pretty excited in the morning and was even goofing around in the lobby before we went in. As you can see in the photo, he was all smiles!

He got a little nervous when we went into his classroom. When it came time for us to leave.... it was pretty hard - on him and me! He ran out of the classroom and down the hall. I went after him and he was starting to well up with tears. Of course I had to fight back my own. I got him back into his classroom and said goodbye. That's when the flood gates opened and the screaming began. Dylan, not me. :) It was awful! I wanted to cry with him, but knew that I couldn't/shouldn't. We finally just had to leave. I sat in the lobby listening to him scream. It was SO hard! Maybe it was too soon for him to start school. But I know that he has a strong desire for learning and we figure that getting him used to school 7 hours a week will be much easier than sending him off to kindergarten witout ever being left anywhere. After about 5-10 min I heard the screaming stop. When we first took Dylan in, he was a little unsure of what to expect, but Cameron on the other hand, took off to the other side of the room to play with all the kids! :) Cameron was very sad about leaving Dylan. The whole time Dylan was in school, Cameron kept saying "ELMO! ELMO!" (As most of you know, Cam calls Dylan 'Elmo') After I left I wanted to just sit and cry, but luckily I had plans to go over to dads house to work on signs for the business....it helped keep my mind off Dylan. I also knew that Dylan would probably settle in eventually.

I was SO anxious to pick him up! I got there at 11...he gets out at 11:30. I sat in my car til 11:20. They line the kids up to come out of their room. Dylan was the last one in line. The teachers said that once he settled down, he was really enjoying himself...and even talking to the teachers and other kids! He played with Legos and decorated his bucket with stickers. (Instead of bookbags, they use buckets). He had a snack and walked to the bathroom to wash his hands with the rest of the class. He even sat in circle time. When I used to take him to Science Class, he wouldn't even sit with the other kids. He said he followed the teacher everywhere she went. :)

He said he had a good time and wants to go back tomorrow. Let's hope that he really is enjoying himself and has a lot smoother transition tomorrow. The hard part is that we leave for the beach next week and when we get back, it might be like starting all over again. Even though he cried and didn't want us to leave, I guess it's better than the one mom there who said that when she dropped her son off he took off running and never looked back - not even a hug goodbye. Not sure which is worse, a kid who doesn't care if you're there or not or one that doesn't want you to go.

There is another 'Dylan' in Dylan's class. Dylan says "We don't look the same, but our names do!" :)

All in all, it went pretty well considering that Dylan is never left with strangers and is hardly around other kids. Of course he was upset because he was the only one who didn't get a library book. He said "Why do you think they didn't give me one?" I felt so bad for him. From what he was saying, it sounded like he may have still been eating snack when they were picking out books. Plus, since he was just switched to a new class late yesterday, they may not have everything set up with his name on it (I think they fill out a form with who took which book etc.). I'll make sure he gets one tomorrow.

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(later)

Well... tonight I was putting Dylan to bed and was able to really talk to him more about school today. I found out that he didn't like when the teachers held his hand (they held his hand on the way to the bathroom etc.) and he said he cried during circle time and he cried during clean up time. I thought he had jumped on the trampoline, but I guess he didn't because he didn't want the teacher to hold his hand. The way he described everything tonight made it sound like he didn't have any fun at all. :( Knowing Dylan, he's so sensative that I wouldn't put it past him to tell us he had fun just because he's afraid he'd hurt our feelings if he didn't have fun. I thought he just cried at the beginning, but being that he cried during clean-up time makes it seem like he was sad all day long.

I really hope it doesn't take him long to feel comfortable and truely love going.