The White House

Quinn and I survived his first day of preschool and only one of us cried — I\’m sure you know which one. We got off to a great start last night when Quinn fell asleep around 8 pm. Since he decided to get up at 5 am this morning, we had lots of time to get ready for his first day of school. Quinn had been to the school for orientation last week and we\’ve been talking alot about how much fun he will have at school.

The first day of school isn\’t official without pictures. He wasn\’t going for the traditional \”on the steps-in front of the door\” pictures so we went this route instead. You can see that he\’s wearing his official Sundance School t-shirt and new sneakers. (Funny story, I was talking to some moms at pick-up time and their daughters were complaining about wearing the t-shirt and asked to accessorize the outfit 🙂

Don got a late start on his work day so that he could send his little man off to school. Yay for great dads!

Quinn has his very own cubby where we will put his coat and an extra set of clothes. The teacher/school will also leave any take home stuff in his cubby.

This was waiting for Quinn when he got to his cubby.

Miss Bunny welcoming Quinn to his classroom, the Moon Room. Miss Bunny started teaching at the school many years ago when her kids attended the school. Now Miss Bunny\’s daughter is also a teacher at the school and Miss Bunny\’s grandkids attend the school. What a great testament for the quality of the school.

As you can see from Quinn\’s body language, he wasn\’t so sure about going with Miss Bunny. I made the mistake of taking a couple of pictures after he went willingly with Miss Bunny but then Quinn came running back. I gave him a hug, told him I would be back soon, and then Miss Bunny coaxed him in to the room with a train. I wanted to stay, but made a dash out of the school.

Before letting out for the morning, the kids gather in the auditorium to sing. Today one of the original owners of the school was playing the guitar for the sing-a-long. The kids came through the doors and Quinn didn\’t see me at first. But then I got the biggest smile and hug ever! My heart melted as my boy squeezed me tight. Miss Bunny said that Quinn never cried and was happy all morning. She said he wasn\’t big on structure (ie sitting in a circle, doing things as a group) which wasn\’t a big surprise to me. Phew! We survived!

Quinn had a drink and snack in the car and then was out like a light. He hasn\’t been taking naps lately, but today I will let him sleep for a couple of hours to restore and replenish.

How I love this boy!

I loved my day with Quinn. It was normal, it was extraordinary, and it is the day before his first day of preschool.

Quinn loves his crocs. I think he especially loves them because he can easily put them on and take them off himself. Something a do-it-yourself kind of kid might like. But with school starting tomorrow, Quinn needed some proper footwear and today we got him a new pair of sneakers at our locally owned shoe store. Check out the size difference from last year\’s sneakers to this year\’s sneakers. How quickly they grow!

A quick stop at Starbucks and then on to swimming lessons. We are trying a new swim school that\’s a little bit of a drive but seems to have a really good program. This is also the first time Quinn will take a lesson without Don or I in the pool. We went for an evaluation a couple of weeks ago to determine which class he should be in and he did pretty well without me.

Today Quinn got in the pool, did one exercise, and then came over to me and asked for a warm towel (our saying at the Westfield Pool when his whole body is shivering and his lips are blue.) I coaxed him back in to the pool and then snuck out of the pool area. As soon as I left, he did so well. He followed the teacher\’s instructions, played and shared with the other little girl in the pool, and seemed to be having a good time. I could hear everything and would occasionally sneak a peak. The class can have as many as 6 kids to 2 teachers, but we lucked out with 2 kids and one teacher. The other little girl in the class is about Quinn\’s age and a very good little swimmer. I have a good feeling about this class 🙂

He had a big snack and drink on the way home while he played with his balloon from the shoe purchase. He also managed to sneak in a quick catnap.

It was a nice cool day, so we grabbed the scooter and went for nice long walk. It\’s been so hot here that we haven\’t spent that much time this summer strolling around the neighborhood. Today we visited all of our favorite places.

Like throwing leaves and debris down the storm drain.

There is usually a puddle here from the drain, but it was dry today. This is one of Quinn\’s favorite \”splish, splash, splosh\” locations.

Through the woods…

…with a quick stop to find out what might be in the hole in the ground. Maybe a stick will reveal what\’s hiding in there.

He\’s all boy. He knows how to find the wettest, muddiest spot at the playground while wearing his brand new shoes.

Today I seemed to be reminded at every turn how much Quinn is growing and developing. At the beginning of the summer, he needed alot of help getting up this spiral ladder. Now he climbs up it on his own and then slides right over to the platform. Our big boy!

How Quinn loves to throw leaves.

And a quick walk on the retaining wall. No longer does he need a helping hand. Instead he runs on it waving a leafy stick.

Off to the woods to see what he can discover.

We spent a couple of hours today roaming the neighborhood, playing on the playground, and trailblazing through the woods. It was a great afternoon!

Tomorrow Quinn starts preschool at the Sundance School. Don and I feel so good about this school and know we made the right choice for our little man. I\’m sure I\’ll have lots of pictures to post tomorrow.

Quinn got his first day of school hair cut the other day. The reward is always a lollipop. I asked him what color is the lolipop? He said purple. I asked if it tasted like strawberries and he said \”It tastes like purple polka dots!\”.