First day, new school

Todd's first day at his new preschool went well in some ways, not so well in others.

Because Monday was my first day at work and I had to be there early for orientation, Allan dropped Todd off that morning. Though I was confident that the drop-off would pose no problems (since Todd is used to going to school every day, he no longer has separation anxiety over it), I had trepidations about what would go on IN school. Like his slow eating. Or his shyness at asking for help (i.e. going to the bathroom, asking for a drink). Or his tendency to let his eyes and mind wander and not pay attention, esp in new surroundings. Or the fact that potty-trained kids are expected to wipe their own butts after going poopies (ewwww! What 3-year-old do YOU trust to wipe himself cleanly without getting poop on his hands?) I was also concerned about how the kids would occupy their time after school (which only runs till lunchtime).

Sure enough, when I went to pick him up that evening, Todd was playing in a freezing cold room where a harried teacher was busy minding a half dozen other rambunctious (some shrieking and wailing) kids. His jacket was barely staying on, as it wasn't zipped up. His hands were freezing. Worse yet, he was wet, because he had been too timid to get up from his nap cot to ask for a trip to the bathroom. Lord only knows how long he was wet in that cold room. Then I opened his backpack-- except for the empty juice bottle, the food was more or less intact. He'd eaten nothing for lunch. Off we went towards home, where I quickly gave him a hot shower and stuffed him full of good food. All the while, I repeatedly instructed him on what to do the next day: 1) eat all his food, 2) TELL someone when he has to go the bathroom, 3) listen to the teacher and 4) get someone to zip up his jacket when it came time to put it on.

It must have helped, for when Allan picked him today, he found that Todd had eaten most of his lunch (at the expense of not drinking, though :-P Well, little steps. We'll get there yet!). He was dry. And his jacket was zipped up and the playroom wasn't freezing like yesterday. Small steps. Now we just have to figure out how to get him to give us more than an "I don't know" when we ask him what he did at school today :-P Oh, and when I dropped him off this morning, he didn't even say bye, he made a beeline straight for the toys! :-P

I'm not terribly thrilled that Todd will be pretty much left to his own devices after lunch, since school is done by then and it's just a day care by that point, but what choice do we have? I worry about his sitting around with a dirty butt all day, and I worry about him not eating/drinking enough for lunch, but what can you do? It's not their job to feed him, etc. I worry about my little man, let's hope that things improve with time!