No Tears Today!!!

Not a single tear was shed today for Daniel's Big Boy class!!! Hooray!!! Like the teacher said, third time's a charm. I'm so proud of Daniel!

Daniel and I went off to class, just the two of us, this morning. Annabel has been on a different napping pattern lately, going down for naps around 9ish (not surprising since she consistently wakes up for the morning at 7:00AM and thus has been up for a couple hours by then)- this makes her nap sort of right smack dab in the middle of when we need to leave usually. It's been rough; sometimes I can stall her a little bit so she'll sleep while we're out, in the K'tan, OR sometimes I can get her down early enough that she would usually wake up before we leave, but today was not one of those days. She was in bed at 9:15 and we usually leave for class at 9:30, at the latest. This was one of those days in which I'm SO lucky to have a husband who works at home. Annabel stayed home and slept (until about 10:00) while Daniel and I went off to his class.

Daniel walked the whole way in to class like such a big boy. We peeked in to see what toys they had and he pointed out the coloring table right away of course. He did want to be carried as they asked the kids' names, but then after he got his name tag, I put him down at the entrance and he walked right in- he didn't even look back, and yes, I watched him for about two seconds- it was just so sweet to see him going off on his own, with no tears. I was already so proud of him- no tears in the gym as we walked in this time, no tears while we waited (and yes there were other kids still crying- this didn't faze Daniel one bit!), and no tears as he walked in all by himself. I had a feeling that today would be better. I'm glad it started out that way. So, I went off and sipped my Starbucks hot chocolate- a treat for myself on big boy class days.

As usual, Daniel worked very hard on the craft project for the duration of class. He even joined all the kids on the rug at the end of class to read books (this was a new thing they did this week)- so that was great. He was SO excited to see me when I came back, he stood right up and showed me the book he was reading, and he gave me a big hug, and of course was ready to play then. He also wanted to help clean up- except that things were sort of already clean and they leave the toys out for the next group- still, I was proud that he wanted to help. He showed me his project and we set off home to get Annabel and then grocery shop.

Before class, I tried asking him to find and play with two green toys today and then show me when I came back what he played with- that didn't work, which is okay, it was worth a shot I thought. I figure he's comfortable doing the project, it keeps him busy and focused, he knows what to do and how to do it, and he's really been into coloring and gluing at home lately, so I'm glad he's found something he likes to do and that he works hard at it. That's all I want- for him to find something he likes, something he's good at, to try his best, and to eventually try new things. This whole experience in itself is the new thing and he's been such a trouper! I'm so so proud of him! I'm thrilled we had no tears today...it just gets better and better each week!