Preschool Update

Gavin has been in preschool for a month already, and I have to say, it is WAY better than I ever imagined. Gavin loves school and asks every morning if it's a school day. If it isn't, he says he wishes it was!

If you missed my post about his first day of preschool, you can read it here.

One of Gavin's favorite things about going to school is getting to ride in an elevator. His classroom is on the 2nd floor, and he wants to take the elevator instead of the stairs every day! He loves to push the button for the correct floor and watch the doors open and close. I know... easily amused! 

His very favorite thing about preschool is his teacher. He seriously loves her and says that he wants to be a teacher when he is grown up so he can stay at school all day. His teacher is so kind and gentle and really makes the kids feel special. Just last night when we were saying bed time prayers and doing our "God Bless" routine, Gavin said "God Bless Mrs. Langer" and he thanked God that he gets to see Mrs. Langer almost every day. We feel so blessed to have Gavin in her class! She has a very special gift and I'm so glad she is sharing it with our kids!

Gavin's classroom is bright and cheerful and full of fun things for the kids to do!

I am truly amazed at how much Gavin is learning there and how much his teacher fits in to 2 1/2 hours each day! The kids have some free play time, they do an art project, they read a story and sing songs and have snack and have show and tell. I feel like it takes me 2 1/2 hours at home to tackle just ONE of those things! Gavin comes home singing a new song almost every day and I just love it! I'd like a cheat sheet of all the songs he learns there so we can remember the words and keep singing them at home! He is learning all about being a good friend and about the Golden Rule of treating others as you would like to be treated. 

We have most of his art projects hanging on the art wall in our hallway at home, but I take pictures of them too so I have them stored without having to store every work of art forever. Cliff's parents saved a whole bunch of his "keepsakes" from when he was little and have been giving them to us over the past few years. Cliff isn't really interested in them and ends up tossing them out anyway, so we're not planning to save a lot of Gavin's things for him, just a few extra special ones. I do however, want to keep the pictures I have of them, probably more for me than for him.

At school they've been learning a lot about insects and Gavin told us all about how an ant colony works as well as how a beehive works. He made all kinds of art projects of different insects. These beautiful bugs (below) are displayed on the bulletin board outside Gavin's classroom at school!  

The life-size cutouts of each of the kids lined the hallway from the coat hooks into the classroom. The blue and orange one on the left end is Gavin.

I love this little caterpillar! Gavin gave him a long yellow nose. He told me that caterpillars don't really have tails, but he gave his a little pink tail anyway! 

The beautiful butterfly below is one of my favorites. I'm pretty sure the wings are made from big coffee filters, but Gavin told me they were made from big cupcake wrappers, which I thought was pretty cute. Of course he would think cupcake wrapper before he thought coffee filter! I just love the colors on this guy! He's been flying all over our house!

This is his ant hill. The ants have three body parts, and six legs. The big ant on top is the queen and the other ants are the workers and they're moving through the tunnels inside the ant hill.

What I loved more than anything is his name on the bottom of this one. That's the best I've ever seen him write his name. Usually the letters aren't in the correct order and they aren't all identifiable. 

I've seen so many wonderful things in Gavin since he started school and I can only attribute them to his amazing teacher and the opportunity for him to spend time with kids his own age, since at daycare, the other kids are all older by at least two years or younger by at least a year.  

You may remember what I wrote about MY first day of preschool as well, and my uncharacteristic insecurites about it.  I need to say that I really like every child in Gavin's class and every one of their moms so much! I don't usually get to see any of the dads since in Gavin's class it's the moms who do the majority of the dropping off and picking up. The moms are all so kind and so friendly and the kids are all genuinely really nice, good kids.

I've realized, of course, that although we all come from different places - some of the families' lives seem similar to ours and some seem pretty different, we are all trying to be the best parents we can be to our wonderful and sometimes trying preschoolers. The other moms are just like me in many ways. 

Now that we're a month into school, it seems everyone is more at ease and everyone is enjoying getting to know each other! I'm enjoying Gavin's class as much as he is!