Took Bean to his first day at Pre-school yesterday and I'm the proudest dad there is.
Please indulge me whilst I share our adventure with you.
I took teh day off work so I could take him in and spend the first session with him (something they encourage at the pre-school). I got him dressed in his clothes - every item having his name ironed inside. We then had breakfast and got ourselves ready. Shoes on (again, with his name inside) and gave him his back pack with a dinosaur and his name embroidered on the back. We set off for the 1 mile walk - the sun was shining, and there was a chill in the air when shaded. We chatted the whole way there - he was clearly very excited. We said "good morning" to folk as we passed and it started off brilliantly.
We got to the gate and he showed me where to go (he's visited on countless occasions with the child minder as she's dropped off various other children), and walked up to the main entrance, rang the bell and stepped inside.
He was clearly very comfortable from the outset - getting stuck in straight away pouring water from one bottle to the next.
We played various other activities, sometimes he'd just go off whilst I was chatting to one of the teachers, and then it was "snack time". He sat down with all the other kids, took a couple of pieces of toast, a few orange segments and pear slices - chowed his way through.
The ladies asked if I'd like to join the staff after I'd persuaded two boys to eat their crusts to grow up big and strong like "Hayden's Daddy". The kids gravitated to me - must sense I'm on a similar wavelength.
Then outside Bean was playing with another boy and I was talking to one of the teachers about height. She then asked Bean if mummy was shorter or taller than daddy. He paused, considered and answered "shorter" - which is quite a concept to grasp apparently.
Next it was story and singing time. One of the teachers sat them all down and got them to introduce themselves - and as the other kids said their name Bean was repeating them (a memory technique we didn't even know he knew). Then, during the story about the silvery fish, Bean was animated and engaged - he was shouting out when prompted and really getting involved. My heart swelled. Then we got to sing "one,two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive" - Bean was the only kid singing along. *swell*.
To help the kids (but mostly teachers) identify whose bag/coat is whose, they get the kids to decorate their name tags with stickers from a book. Flicking through the pages Bean spotted a sticker he wanted "Hhh for Hayden" The teacher was impressed, I was near tears with pride.
I will add, that Bean was one of two kids that started yesterday - the rest have been there a couple of months.
Sorry to gush, but he amazes me daily.
Please indulge me whilst I share our adventure with you.
I took teh day off work so I could take him in and spend the first session with him (something they encourage at the pre-school). I got him dressed in his clothes - every item having his name ironed inside. We then had breakfast and got ourselves ready. Shoes on (again, with his name inside) and gave him his back pack with a dinosaur and his name embroidered on the back. We set off for the 1 mile walk - the sun was shining, and there was a chill in the air when shaded. We chatted the whole way there - he was clearly very excited. We said "good morning" to folk as we passed and it started off brilliantly.
We got to the gate and he showed me where to go (he's visited on countless occasions with the child minder as she's dropped off various other children), and walked up to the main entrance, rang the bell and stepped inside.
He was clearly very comfortable from the outset - getting stuck in straight away pouring water from one bottle to the next.
We played various other activities, sometimes he'd just go off whilst I was chatting to one of the teachers, and then it was "snack time". He sat down with all the other kids, took a couple of pieces of toast, a few orange segments and pear slices - chowed his way through.
The ladies asked if I'd like to join the staff after I'd persuaded two boys to eat their crusts to grow up big and strong like "Hayden's Daddy". The kids gravitated to me - must sense I'm on a similar wavelength.
Then outside Bean was playing with another boy and I was talking to one of the teachers about height. She then asked Bean if mummy was shorter or taller than daddy. He paused, considered and answered "shorter" - which is quite a concept to grasp apparently.
Next it was story and singing time. One of the teachers sat them all down and got them to introduce themselves - and as the other kids said their name Bean was repeating them (a memory technique we didn't even know he knew). Then, during the story about the silvery fish, Bean was animated and engaged - he was shouting out when prompted and really getting involved. My heart swelled. Then we got to sing "one,two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive" - Bean was the only kid singing along. *swell*.
To help the kids (but mostly teachers) identify whose bag/coat is whose, they get the kids to decorate their name tags with stickers from a book. Flicking through the pages Bean spotted a sticker he wanted "Hhh for Hayden" The teacher was impressed, I was near tears with pride.
I will add, that Bean was one of two kids that started yesterday - the rest have been there a couple of months.
Sorry to gush, but he amazes me daily.
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