First Day of School! First Day of School!

Any takers on what children’s movie that line is from?

Today was Graham’s first morning at Playschool. This is the church’s Playschool that Christy and I lined up for this spring at the crack o’ dawn to ensure that Graham and his good buddy Ben were in the same class. He’ll be going two mornings a week. Ben is out of town for the next few days, but Graham had a good time regardless.

I took a couple of pictures, but he wasn’t cooperating, so I’ll spare you all the agony of their poor quality.

I found out something interesting at the meeting I went to a couple of weeks ago. There are two women in charge of the Playschool (Mrs. B and Mrs. J), as well as some other helpers. Mrs. B is a trained speech and language therapist, and Mrs. J has an education degree. Neither of them have their “early childhood education” certificate, so they have to call it a Playschool instead of a Preschool. This is basically because they are over qualified, from what I understand. Whatevah – they do a great job and Graham had a fantastic time.

Nathan and I got there in time for the end, where they sing a song and dismiss each child one by one by singing their name. Before each kid gets up to go, they are asked what their favourite part of the morning was. They asked Graham, “Was is gym time, painting, playdoh, story time, or something else?”

His reply?

“Snack time!!”

That’s my boy.

In addition to Playschool, he also started swimming lessons last week. These aren’t the “Mom and Tot” type lessons that I did with him while pregnant with Nathan. These are half-hour lessons, twice a week, where he goes into the pool with 5 other kids and the instructor. I get to sit behind the glass and just watch him. Oh, and keep Nathan from completely melting down because he wants to go swimming too. The Cheezies from the vending machine were a good distraction.

It gives me such pride to watch Graham in his lessons. A couple of the kids start the lesson by crying, and there’s G giving them toys and trying to cheer them up. The teacher takes them one by one and has them swim on their back, etc. When back in the shallow end, Graham will wave at us excitedly and then give us the “thumbs up” sign. He cracks me up.

Our weeks are filling up. Two mornings a week at Playschool, and swimming lessons two afternoons a week. There’s also Tumble Time on Tuesday mornings, where the chuch gym is filled with all sorts of toys, climbing apparatus, a trampoline, gym mats, etc. There are small children running willy nilly everywhere, and the boys love it.

My first Baby is really, truly growing up. He’s no longer a baby, but a BOY. One who is smart, hilarious, and a little person in his own right. It really does seem like only yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. And I’m sure it will feel like tomorrow and he will be graduating from high school. Sigh.