Our last first day of preschool

As I dropped off Joseph for the first day of preschool this morning, I realized that this is the last "first" day of preschool in our family. Wow!

Joseph attends preschool at Family of Christ Lutheran Church. He loved this preschool last year, so it was an easy transition to start preschool again.

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On his big first day, Joseph woke up and ate breakfast and then got stuck when it was time to get dressed. He found me in my bathroom and said, "Batman doesn't go to school." So, according to four year old reasoning, if Batman doesn't go to school, then he shouldn't go either. I told him, "it's okay, you can pretend to be Batman when you come home. Right now you can be Joseph going to school." To which he responded emphatically, "Mom, I AM Batman!" Quick-thinking Bailey remembered (or made up) an episode of Batman where he attends college, which she explained to Joseph is a type of school. Crisis averted - for now!

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We call Joseph's new haircut "shorn sheep." He loves haircuts as much as his brother did at this age (as in, not at all). I am actually reasonably good at doing a nice little boy's haircut, but I can usually bribe and cajole Joseph into only about 3 minutes of sitting for a haircut. So, I buzz it as quickly as possible. And, as short as possible, as that buys us an additional month when we don't need to fight the battle! Poor guy - when I was done with the haircut he went to the bathroom to check it out. He came back and said, "I don't wook dood."

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Thank goodness for Washington's rainy, somewhat cool weather. Joseph would only consider wearing a long sleeve shirt and long pants today. He is anti-shorts and doesn't even like short-sleeve shirts anymore. This has posed some interesting challenges on days when the thermometer has creeped up to 90 degrees. I'm sure this fixation on wintery clothes will only last until it is actually winter. Then, short sleeve shirts will come back into favor!

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When we stopped to take the "first day of school" pictures in front of his preschool, Joseph insisted on showing me all his great superhero moves for the pictures. He said, "this is what Batman doos when he goes to school."

I am adding this last thought after the preschool day was completed. I would just like to say how happy I am that there is such a thing as preschool. Joseph, who has been antsy, oppositional, and just plain difficult since school started for the older kids, had SO much fun today. He couldn't stop talking about how great 4-year-old preschool is, and this made for some very pleasant and enjoyable conversation this afternoon. Not one tantrum, no time-outs, just excitement and enthusiasm and delightfulness. Hip hip hooray for preschool!