Meet Baby Jones

Lil’ dude is getting hip to all this school business. As soon as we walked through the front doors of his school this morning, the crying and grabbing on to my leg started. He didn’t even wait to get into his classroom this time - as soon as I opened the door, the crying began.

Avery cried all the way to his classroom. I stayed with him just until Ms. Ashley was able to pick him up and coddle him. Unlike last week when I allowed Ms. Ashley to just snatch him out of my arms, this time I put him down and allowed him to be comfortable enough to let Ms. Ashley pick him up. The Swift Snatch method (letting Ms. Ashley just pry Avery out of my arms as he clung to me) proved a horror to our household so we’re trying a gentler approach. For 2 days after the Swift Snatch, Avery became so extremely clingy. He wanted to be held by only me all the time.

In other news, it’s time to order school pictures! We received the proofs today and surprisingly, they’re more than alright. What you see on the photos is a cute little boy with a great, big smile. What you don’t see on the photos is the river that was formed from the cute little boy’s tears, the grown men and women who jumped up and down, made silly faces and made even sillier noises just to get that cute little boy to smile, and the cute little boy’s mom who kept silently chanting, “Oh please don’t get snot on your vest. Oh please.”

Dear Avery -

So, you and I have survived your first couple of days of school. I was nervous, Daddy was relieved, and you, well, I told you all about going to school and stuff but I don’t think you had any clue what was coming.

The night before your big day, I felt so frenzied. At 8p, we still had a ton of stuff to do like take your Lola home (which by the way takes a total of 2.5 hours to complete and doesn’t begin until 9p so you do the math) and complete the 100-page application to your school that I felt like there was no way I was going to be going to bed at a decent hour so I can wake up and not be a crankypuss. I wanted to be genuinely pleasant on Monday so your morning is pleasant as well. But I worried this just wasn’t going to be.

Monday morning came, however, and it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. While you were still asleep, I got up first and then showered. Before 8 am!! A rarity in our household since you were born. You then woke up and greeted me in the bathroom as I was blow-drying my hair with the loveliest, warmest smile ever. How can anyone be grumpy after being witness to that?

As I was getting you dressed, Daddy started talking to me from downstairs about making sure I took the digital AND video cameras with me to capture your first day at school. I told him that was impossible. There were just too many things for me to worry about that morning that taking photos, as hard as that was for even me to believe, was just the last thing on my very long list. That clearly wasn’t the answer Daddy wanted to hear though because without hesitation, he decided he would go in to work late so he could come with us and serve as the official documenter.

When we arrived at school, you still had no clue what was up. As usual, you were curious about everything, stopping to inspect every picture that was taped to the wall and playing with the toys in the lobby.

Your mood quickly changed, however, when we entered your classroom. All of a sudden, you couldn’t move a thing. You stood in the doorway and just observed everyone and everything. Forever.

After a few minutes of concentrated observation from your post, you finally started to venture away from the door and began to explore once again.

You even became comfortable enough with your teacher, Ms. Ashley, to approach her so you can proudly point to the dog on the puzzle tray.

Daddy and I hung around long enough to make sure you were ok in your new surroundings with all those new people. When it was time to leave, we were instructed to do so like we were removing a band-aid from a wound - swiftly and with our eyes closed. We did that, but it only took you a second to realize that we were no longer in the room. As soon as you realized we had snuck out, you let out a deafening cry.

It broke my heart to leave you and it took every bit of self-control I had not to turn back and snatch you away from your teacher. I kept silently repeating as I walked out of the school, “I’ll see you again in just 3 1/2 hours”, hoping you’ll somehow telepathically receive this message and stop your crying. Sadly, you didn’t get my message because Ms. Ashley said that you cried more than a few tears in class.

When I came to pick you up, Ms. Patti was carrying you as you guys stood by the window. You turned around when you heard the door open and almost flew out of Ms. Patti’s arms when you saw that it was me. I grabbed you from her and immediately, you started trying to tell me about your day. You started grunting while pointing to the outside, to your head, even to Ms. Ashley! It was as if you wanted to say (and as it was reported to me by Ms. Ashley) that you spent some time outside, that Ms. Jen showered you with kisses on your head, and that Ms. Ashley was the leader of the group.

Yes, I know you didn’t like being left with total strangers, but we’re only doing this now because we want you better prepared for when you really need to be in school for longer periods of time. Besides, although there were some sad moments for you, I was told that you had a great time overall, especially when you guys played outside!

Well, the day must’ve been truly exhausting for you because as soon as I put you in your carseat, you were done. I think you napped like 3 hours that day - a record for you these days.

This is the beginning of many years of schooling for you, Avery. You’ll learn so much about so many things and you’ll meet many different people. I am so excited for you and all the knowledge that you’re about to uncover through this educational journey that you’ve began.

Love,
Mommy

It is an exciting time here at Jones Headquarters as Avery is preparing to begin preschool at The Goddard School on Monday! We’re going to start him off slowly, just 2 half-days a week for now, to avoid shell shock. This will be the first time he’ll be left with others besides us and his lola so we’re being gentle.

I hope his first couple of days at school won’t be as catastrophic as the time I tried to leave him at my gym’s daycare. He lasted all of 2.5 minutes in the room without me despite a very promising start. He was crying so loudly and was just so completely inconsolable that the sitter had no choice but to come get me.

Yes, yes, I know those two situations are different. At my gym’s daycare, the sitters are also the gym’s trainers/desk-minders who are chosen for the task through a little eeny, meeny, miny, moe and who probably provoke the children in their care anyway so they can say to the parents, “Oh, time to get your child because he/she is crying for you.” What do they care? To them, it’s just one less brat for them to babysit.

In stark contrast, however, we have the preschool whose staff all have received or in the process of receiving formal education in early childhood development and education. The curriculum is pretty impressive and includes math, science, arts, dance, dramatic play - even yoga! We toured the facility today and it is clean, organized and seems conducive to learning. And two other big pluses: the school is only about 15 minutes from our house AND the teacher who’ll be teaching Avery’s group takes horse-riding lessons from our neighbor, Deb! Yep, it’s a small world.

Melvin and I strongly feel that Avery is ready for this kind of learning and socialization now. I mean everyday, you can just see his hunger and determination to learn about new things. Although I think we do a great job on our own with teaching him, there’s no doubt that socialization with children in his age group will only enhance his learning.

I’m so excited for our lil’ man. Can’t hardly wait for Monday!

BTW, I don’t consider myself a good (blog) writer at all, but if this post seems especially rough, it’s because I am writing at 3:30 in the morning. Between Avery stirring, Aunt Flo flowing, the cats meowing, and the dog across the street barking, I just couldn’t maintain my sleep.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.