Elijah’s First Day of School

Elijah started his first day of school last Wednesday. We talked it up every chance we could. “It will be so much fun, you’ll get to play with lots of new toys.” The hype was working. Elijah couldn’t wait to start. We were afraid there would be separation anxiety issues, but he was so enamored by all the new toys it was more “Mom and Dad who?” Unfortunately we failed to mention that it wasn’t always fun and games. He had a meltdown when the teacher tried to move him from the play room to the classroom. It was short lived though and every morning he asks “Can I go to school?” Score one for the parents!

Some of you may be wondering why we would enroll our 2 1/2 year old in school? Our main reason stems from Elijah’s shyness. His dad is quite inept when it comes to social situations and he wants to do his best to prevent his son from turning out the same way. We also wanted to expose Elijah to more French and Arabic, but in all likelihood the school is just glorified day care. Did I mention it’s ridiculously cheap?

My favorite line from the barrage of questions he’s received every day after class:

In response to what’s his teachers name he said “Mine’s the orange one.” and the next day her name was “She’s black.” Which she most certainly is not. Her name is Fatima Zara (That’s even hard for me to say). Elijah is just really observant about colors and what people are wearing, I suppose.

If you have any tips to help your kid (or dad for that matter) get over their shyness, share it!