rowan's first day of preschool was wonderful!! the night before i packed his little backpack with a sippy cup and a change of clothes, and i didn't even get emotional. we started the next day by dropping micah off at school (which is going so smoothly these days, thanks to her friend, hannah, with whom she walks in every morning), then we headed to samantha and christian's house to get lina. it was only 8 AM when we left with lina, and rowan's school doesn't start until 8:45; the doors don't open until 8:40. there really wasn't time enough to go back home, so i just drove to the school and parked. rowan and lina busied themselves with playing in the back of the station wagon, and i read my book and talked to josh on the phone. at 8:35 rowan could not wait one more second to get out, so we walked to the gate and played on the sidewalk a bit. a few minutes passed and jessica, the school director, opened the door for us and said, "good morning!" rowan grabbed his backpack and ran inside. he looked back to see if i was following him, and i was, with lina on my hip. he headed down the hallway in front of me, and walked right past his classroom. miss kathy, his sweet teacher, said from inside the room, "you're right here, rowan!" rowan turned and went inside, and never looked back! i hovered near the doorway, out of sight, and listened to him. i could tell he was looking at all the neat toys and things, and miss kathy was chatting with him and showing him things. jessica and another teacher, kim, who also happens to be my good friend and co-LLL leader, hovered in the hallway with me while i made sure he was going to be okay. and he sure was. so lina and i left, and i STILL didn't get emotional! lina and i bummed around the house; she played, and i mainly worked on a home study. at some point while milling around the house, i realized micah had left her teddy bear, layla, at home. she was supposed to take layla to school that morning for a teddy bear sleepover. mrs. barrett had this cute idea to have the kids bring their bears to school and leave them overnight; the note she sent home said, "rules for bears: no eating honey in the classroom, no growling," etc. and the bears with good behavior would have teddy grahams (presumably sitting in a baggy next to them for the students to snack on the next day). soooo cute!! anyway, there was layla sitting in the living room, and micah had seemed so excited the night before about taking her bear to school. so lina and i left the house a little early so we could take layla to school. we dropped her off in the office, then headed to rowan's school. once again, we were a little ahead of schedule, so i stopped by wendy's for a snack, then parked at the school. lina played in the back while i ate and read. my friend, susan, whose little boy, michael, is in rowan's class, pulled up next to us, so lina and i walked up to the school with her. i peeked in the classroom before rowan knew i was there, so i could watch him for a few moments. he was playing with some trains. miss kathy joined me at the door and told me he'd had a GREAT day, used the potty successfully, and had wonderful manners!! that was so nice to hear. rowan's had a bit of a stubborn streak lately, so i worried about how he'd do with the teacher. anyway, rowan heard my voice and turned around, and gave me a huuuge hug. he was really happy to see us. he said, "i'm ready to go home!" which i thought was so sweet. i thanked miss kathy and jessica, and we headed out. while we were loading up in the car, susan and michael came out too and invited us to mcdonald's down the road for lunch. i knew we didn't have much in the way of lunch at home that rowan would be excited about (plus, he'd overheard the invitation and got excited), so we said yes. i got to meet some of the other ELC moms at mcdonald's, so that was really fun. rowan had a good time playing with his new friends and classmates (although he did get stuck at the top of the play stucture, and cried, and i had to crawl up and get him). all in all, it was a very fun, exciting day, for me and for him. :)