I got to the school to pick up Katherine. There were already a few parents lurking around outside — evidently it had been something of a madhouse in the morning, but now it was fairly calm and quiet.
The Preschool class was out on the playground, playing, and I got to watch Katherine digging with a shovel in the gravel. I immediately went in to Parental Uberanalysis Mode, watching how she interacted with the other kids, what she played with, what she did …
Bottom line, she was having fun.
I chatted a bit with one of her teachers, and with the other parents. It was kind of weird — a bunch of strangers, but all with something in common: their kids in the class. It was kind of nice.
I was also the only dad there.
As the kids queued up at a rope to go back inside, some of them spotted their parents. “Mommy!”
I was only a dozen feet away from Katherine, but she didn’t see me at first. But then she did, and her face lit up. “Daddy!” She pointed me out to one of her teachers. “There’s my daddy!”
Heh. Little heart cockle-warming.
We met in the foyer for the quick debrief from one of the teachers, then it was time to pick up Kitten.
And then we were in, and it was a big hug. “Did you have a good time, Kitten?”
“Yeah!”
Of course, being a big girl, and in school, that’s the last straight answer I got from her. “Were your teachers nice? Did you meet any new friends? What did you do?” Repeated questions were met with silence.
At least she didn’t say, “Nuthin.” Yet. She has another thirteen years to learn that lesson in.
It’s nice to see that Katherine has really adjusted to the school routine in just a couple of days.
I’m assuming that it’s only half -day?
thirteen…heh. Try 6 to 8.
What I meant was, I’m sure she’ll perfect the routine sometime over the next thirteen years. If it takes her six to eight years, I’ll begin to worry. 🙂
This was actually her first day (PS runs Tue/Thu for her track, 8ish to 11ish). She’s done PS before, but this is a new school, and a real school at that. She did great, though.