Little Red Schoolhouse

Gulliver started the Little Red Schoolhouse last week. He'll go 1 morning per week from 9 - 1 this summer. It's right down the street, which makes it very familiar and super convenient. Wasn't sure who it would be harder for on the first day… him or me.  I'm happy to say we both did quite well.

This is the first time we have left Gulliver in the hands of anyone outside of family. All our friends have such wonderful things to say about Little Red. It certainly gives Gulliver a chance to interact with kids his age in a totally different way than when he's with Mark or me.

All three of us visited the school together one afternoon earlier this month to get a feel for the environment. Since we walk by the school often, he knows about the playground in the back. He made a beeline for it and we had a casual meeting with the director while he played. He thought that was great.

On his first day, he kept saying over and over again, "playground, playground, playground." So he was disappointed when we walked in and went into a classroom. After 10 minutes of trying to convince him that he would get to go to the playground later, I finally gave up reason and just said it's time for mommy to go and I'd be back to pick him up later. Hugs and kisses and bye. Left him in the hands of the teacher.

I hung around for a short while, and snuck a peek when he wasn't looking. He wasn't thrilled, but he wasn't upset either. Just standing back and taking everything in Gulliver-style. But he seemed liked he'd do okay.

When I picked him up at 1:00 that afternoon, he was on the playground playing happily. I managed to snap a few pics before he knew I was there. It was an odd feeling seeing him out there on his own without me. We both grew a little that day.

His second day of school was fairly uneventful. He was excited to go. When I dropped him off yesterday, we kept it brief. He seemed fine. When I picked him up later, the teacher told me he cried for about 20 minutes after I left. They tried to comfort him, but he wasn't into it. They invited him into the "soft room" to calm down which he didn't care for. Then they remembered that he likes things that go. So they gave him a truck to play with and that snapped him out of it for the remainder of the morning. He must have had an active morning because he went down without a peep for naptime at 2:00pm. Here is what he looked like at 6:00pm...