First Day of School
Today was the first day of school (well, pre-school) for Timmy. I was really, really nervous about his potty-training issues. He is required to be potty-trained to be in school and he isn’t. He was doing really, really well for about a week. He was even wearing his “Big-Boy Underpants” and telling us when he had to go pee. Then he suddenly refused to go on the potty at all. I put him on the potty and he cried. I told him, “Just sit there while Mommy goes potty.” Up to that point he had always started to pee when I started peeing. But this time he consistently refused, saying “no pee-pee in there”. I finally got him up and pulled up his underpants. I was washing my hands and he walked over to me and said very proudly, “I pee-peed all over my big-boy underwear.” I gave up since he was actively refusing.
So this morning I told him when he first got up that today was the first day of school and to get ready for school he had to go pee-pee in the potty. He didn’t put up much of a fight and he went. I praised him profusely and told him we had to get dressed. He washed his hands and put a pull-up on by himself. He was really proud of that.
This is another area where he doesn’t want to do what a big boy should do. He is fully capable of getting himself dressed without any help, but he will refuse to do it. This morning I told him I would put his shirt over his head, but he had to put his hands in. He did it. I told him that he had to put his shorts. He did without a fight! I gave him is socks and he just sat there with them. I ignored those for now and made breakfast. After I was ready, I told Timmy he had to put his socks and shoes on so we could leave for school. He worked on his socks while I put Kellie’s socks and shoes on. He went and got his shoes and wanted me to put them on, but I told him he had to do them himself.
I said, “I’m going to put Kellie in the car now. Put your shoes on and grab your backpack and I’ll be right back. I walked out the door with Kellie and put her in the car. The car was on the street, so I pulled it into the driveway. I could see him watching me from the front window.
When I went in the back door he was dragging his backpack through the kitchen and yelling, “Look at me, Mommy! Look at me!” He had his shoes on! I put him in the car and as he was climbing in he said, “You came back for me!” Here he thought I was leaving without him! I explained that I would never leave without him.
I took pictures of him in the parking lot with his backpack on before we walked into school. Then we walked to his room. The door was closed, but the kids’ names were already on the hooks in the hall, so we found his hook and I got a picture of him hanging up his backpack. His extra clothes were in there, so I pulled them out, along with some paperwork I had to turn in. Soon Mrs. Sharon opened the door and we could go in. Timmy didn’t wait for me, but ran right in and over to the toys. As I got into the room with the parents who had lined up, Mrs. Sharon announced that the kids had to wash their hands before they could play. I called to Timmy and told him to go to the bathroom and wash his hands. I couldn’t get in there with him because of the crowd of kids and parents, but Mrs. Liz was in there, so I figured she would help him.
A few minutes went by and Timmy didn’t emerge. I figured there must have been more kids in there than I had thought. Mrs. Sharon announced that the parents should start to make their way out and I wanted to give Timmy a kiss and a hug, so I went over to the bathroom. I heard him in there calling, “Mommy! Mommy!” I called to him and he came out. Kellie and I got a hug and a kiss and I explained that we were leaving now, but we’d be back after school to pick him up. He looked pretty scared and nervous, though he wasn’t crying. He bravely said, “Okay”. Mrs. Sharon rescued him by kneeling and saying excitedly, “I have lots of fun blocks to play with. Would you like to play with them?” Timmy immediately perked up and went with her. When I left, he was happily engrossed.
Kellie and I ran some errands and picked up lunch at McDonald’s. We went back to the church and we were 3rd in line. The kids were all sitting on the floor in the narthex, just inside the doors. When Timmy saw my car pull up he jumped up. Mrs. Sharon brought him to the car and as he walked he yelled, “Mommy!” He was so happy to see me! I was really glad; I was a bit worried that he would throw a tantrum when he had to leave.
On the way home he told me that he played with 2 diggers and trains. He sat on the carpet with the letters and heard a story about a coconut tree that kept falling down and knocking the letters over. He played with play-dough and had a snack of goldfish and apple juice. He drank out of a little cup without a lid and didn’t make a mess at all. He also played basketball.