Day 479 | First Day of PreK 3

Chase posing with his new classroom mascot: the bulldog.

This guy started school today. And not another two hour stint this time. The real deal: five days a week, full days (except Wednesday, that's an early release day). Chase was ready for it. He was practically beaming from ear to ear the whole time. There was a brief period of anxiety when we arrived in the room for drop off and it was madness. Eighteen kids + parents + siblings = madness. There wasn't any real attention for him right away and I could tell he was yearning for someone to tell him what to do or where to go. Sounds like that was short-lived, though, because he had nothing but glowing reviews when I picked him up. And based on his narrative of the day, he's already gaining independence (He ate a whole apple...not cut up! He went potty all by himself without anyone helping with his pants or anything!), which is what we hope for him to get out of this experience.

So now, how did all this come to be after the headache of a lottery process (and don't forget how optimistic I was at the beginning!)? It was pretty uneventful, actually. Chris and I have been stalking the lottery website all summer and watching our numbers go down (and up on occasion) with every week. We felt pretty confident we would finally get in to our last pick (Bridges Public Charter School) and that's exactly what happened...two days before school started. Luckily we saw the writing on the wall and had been preparing Chase appropriately (as apparent from today's outcome). 

So, in the end, everything worked out. It always does, right? I mean, would we prefer to be making the four minute walk to the closer (more desirable) school? Yeah, no doubt. Are we still skeptical that this type of intensive schooling is the right choice for our little sweet pea? Yepper. But are we feeling confident that this is a good opportunity for him to learn and develop independent of me/us? Yes yes yes! And at the end of the day that's what we want for him.