when i picked carter up from school, he was sitting on the circle in the middle of the room, watching wide eyed, looking a little overwhelmed, but certainly not upset. he was clearly waiting for his mother to arrive, and feeling some concern as all the other mothers managed to get into the room before me (the set up creates a bottleneck). when he saw me though, he burst into tears and buried his head in my lap and said "i want to go home." i asked "how was school?" and he said "not very fun at all." i doubted this, since i had previously observed him playing without a care in the world, so i had a feeling it was just exhaustion and finally realizing that he had actually missed mommy. i asked the teacher and she said "he had a GREAT time!"

so we went down the hill, had a picnic in the park, and lo and behold, post-calories, he was a totally different child. we walked around the lake (he rode his bike), and he never stopped talking. i learned that he had some cookies that were brown and round and they were really good and he LOVED them. later we made a point to ask ms. doe, and turns out they were butter cookies--the ones with the hole in the center.

this morning, he was very grumpy and did not want to go to school. we also could not get him to eat anything for breakfast. not good. once i got him out of the house and on his bike he as more enthusiastic and ate some crackers, but once in the classroom, he did not want me to go. then he said "i want my peach." so, we left the room, sat on a bench and ate the peach, then returned to his class. once again, different child. right to the paint station (where they had blue, purple, and green paint out--his colors of choice when painting at home), and i said "can i have a kiss?" and he gave me one, then i said goodbye and he didn't bat an eye.

obviously, he has mixed feelings about school. i had a feeling this would happen, as he had become more clingy over the summer, but i know that he also likes it, and that he will benefit tremendously from some of the social elements--friends, of course, but also following directions from other adults.

this is SO DIFFERENT from ava's experience!

ava has been begging to stay at the after school program, so today we are going to try it. completely her initiative, and totally for fun. you could have knocked me over with a feather.

we'll see if anything changes after she goes today. carter is going to be unhappy, for sure. it is hard enough waiting until 2:30, let alone 4 or 5 or even 5:30!