The first day of school

Its been a whirlwind wrap up of my maternity leave all culminating in Henry's first big day at "school" this morning. And in typical anxious parenting, I believe I have perfectly exemplified Freud's description of Projection, in the classical sense.

We had one last visit at his new school yesterday where I spent 2 hours hanging with a gaggle of 2 year olds. Everything was going smoothly. Henry was appearing more comfortable in the space and was slowly warming up to the other students in the class. After some outdoor play time we returned inside for more organic play and learning. Henry was putting together a puzzle when another kid snatched a piece right out of his hand. Henry reached to grab is back and the kid bit him. Hard. It didn't break the skin but it left a pretty good mark. Henry was instantly in tears. I almost was as well. The other kid was removed from the situation, but I was mostly focused on comforting Henry. Once the tears subsided the boy came back to give Henry an apologetic hug. Henry seemed to nearly forget about the incident. But I continued to feel horrified.

I quickly created a story in my head about how Henry was just finally starting to feel safe in this had shattered any sense of security. I continued to ruminate on these thoughts throughout the night. I tried to not focus on it in front of Henry, by talking about it to Jon in Spanish (much more efficient than trying to spell out an entire conversation). I anxiously prepared all of Henry's belongings for school that day, carefully labeling all his items with sharpie. Henry went to bed without a struggle, but then he woke up at least 4 times that night, requiring both Jon and I to go down sooth him back to sleep. I worried that it was all related to the biting incident.

Despite the sleep deprivation, the morning went smoothly. Jon took off with Leo for his first day of "babies in the workplace" and I headed to GS with Henry. He wasn't excited when we pulled into the parking lot and was saying "I don wanna go to THIS school!" [side note: he also thinks the auto repair shop kitty corner from his school, with all the cool painted advertisements is a school.] We walked in to school and I encouraged him to show me where his classroom was and he knew exactly where to go.

Still refusing to wear pants, but at least he was willing to put on his new warm jacket. And he had no problems with the mittens.

We got in the classroom and started the normal check-in routine. I was expecting a big "to-do", but it all seemed very natural and comfortable to Henry. Teacher Lo immediately got Henry engaged in playing with the food and "drinking coffee". I told Henry I was leaving and I had to go to work and that Dada would pick him up. He said, "ok". I asked for a hug and a kiss and then I said bye. No tears. No tantrums. No drama. I was shocked. It was so easy. 

drinking coffee with his new buddies

I called Jon, gave him the run down and bought myself a celebratory pumpkin spice latte. Jon picked him up and it sounded like he had a pretty good day! We got an email from the teachers that afternoon with this cute picture.

Henry told us when we got home that he was sad at school and cried a little because he missed his mama after his nap though [insert mama breaking heart]. But, overall, I think it was a very successful first day for Henry. And I can definitely own that the majority of anxiety about the process came from my end. There may even be a picture of me and Henry at his school under the description of projection in the dictionary. Thank goodness for resilient children and all the support from friends, coworkers and family who helped ease this anxious mama's thoughts and heart.