First Day at Pre-School

Last week the entire household, with the exception of Magnus, was eagerly anticipating Magnus' first day at pre-school.  His first day has definitely been memorable.  My heart aches for all the tears shed but I am really happy he is having this experience and I look forward to watching him adapt to pre-school in the coming weeks.

Magnus' pre-school is a brand new nursery less than five minutes away.  When I toured the premises (still under construction) I was really impressed with what I saw and heard and I signed him up right away.  Magnus also reacted really positively to the environment - playing with the toys and the sensory equipment, jumping into one the chairs and starting a drawing, etc. 

Because the nursery is so new, all the students in Magnus' class are new, and there is a big "settling" period going on this first week.  The first day lasted only 1 hour with a reduced class of 8 children.  Gong-gong and I dropped off Magnus and his backpack at the door of his class a little bit early, at 9:20am.  Magnus had been briefed by myself that he would be in school without Mommy or Gong-gong, but I didn't know it actually registered with him until I saw him desperately yanking me away from the classroom and begging to go home.  His teacher asked that we leave him with her and not to go into the classroom at all, so after calming him down briefly with a gummy bear, we left to the tune of Magnus' shrieks.  

Here's how the day went from my point of view:

• 9:20am - Dropped off Magnus crying.  I hung around the reception waiting for the CCTV to be fixed so that I could see what was happening in the classroom.  Gong-gong went to move the car and to wait outside.
• 9:38am - The nursery director went to check on the classes for us and came back to let me know that Magnus had settled in.  Only one child in the class was crying, another little boy.  I left the nursery to explore the neighbourhood with Gong-gong.  We found an elevator that led to a convenient drop off point.  We also checked out the local stores.
• 10:10am - I returned to the reception area to find that the CCTV was partially fixed.  I could see the inside of the classroom but on a really really small part of the monitor.  I saw all the children sitting in a circle with the teacher and her 3 helpers.  One child, a boy, got up and started walking to the door.  The teacher went to fetch him and carried him back to the circle.  Was it Magnus?  I think so, but it was so far away I couldn't be sure.
• 10:15am - The children were being moved around the classroom.  It was apparent the teacher wanted the in the back of the class (closest to the CCTV camera).  They started with the four girls.  I then saw Magnus and another boy come to the back, and then the boy next to Magnus started to cry.  Magnus did not stay in the back of the class, I saw him move to the front corner and then he disappeared from my view.
• 10:25am - Gong-gong comes into reception, we watch for Magnus a bit but we don't see him.  I agree to wait outside closer to the car and let Gong-gong pick up Magnus, as the plan next week is for Gong-gong to pick him up alone.  I find a bench outside and wait.
• 10:30am - Gong-gong goes to the classroom.  Inside, Magnus is sitting in the corner with his blue handkerchief (I put one in his backpack just in case) and is quietly choking back sobs.  When he sees Gong-gong he runs to him and continues catching his breath the way people do after a hard spell of crying.  The teacher tells Gong-gong that Magnus had settled in well until another child started crying, at that point Magnus started crying too and sat himself in the corner for the rest of the class.
• 10:35am - Gong-gong, carrying Magnus, reach my bench and Magnus is still catching his breath.  He is happy to see me but it takes a few more minutes for him to 100% calm down.  By the time he gets in the car he seems to be back to normal.  We try to quiz him a bit about school, but the only things he talks about are his teacher's name, the fact that he wanted Mommy to come back but had to go to work, and that Gong-gong came to pick him up.  (Later I get him to confirm that his teacher helped him open his backpack, and other little things, but we still have not got a lot of information out him!!)
• 10:50am - We arrive back home and Magnus tells Po-po the three things about school I mentioned above.  Just recalling the day's events makes his breath catch again.  It was both cute and heart breaking at the same time!

His next class is the day after tomorrow, and will be two hours long.  His third class will be 2.5 hours long, and then next week he will be doing the full 5.5 hours, 3 days a week.  

Here are some pictures on his first day:

Magnus' backpack, a present from AuntieT (sorry I had to remove the googly eyes)

Liking his bag after googly eyes removal:

Contemplating the name sewn in the back:

How Pre-school marked him:

Relaxing with Maya after a tough first day:

This is a video I made where I tried to capture Magnus catching his breath while talking about school.  By this time, however, the trauma had passed (that's a good thing).  Also, I had to prop up the camera and did not realize how out of focus it was!  Anyways, you can hear Magnus talking a bit about his first day: