First Day of Parents Day Out

Well, the day finally arrived. The day Maddox had been anxiously anticipating for a while now. The day I was excited/nervous/anxious about. The day Maddox would start a Parents Day Out Program, which we just refer to as "school".
We took Maddox up to his "school" (a local church that isn't too far from our house) a couple months ago so I could visit with the director and see if I felt like this would be a good environment for our 2 year old little boy to venture away from Mommy for a few days during the week, meet new friends, socialize, and learn to take directions from someone other than me. He was all smiles and talked about his "school" spontaneously throughout the day for weeks. We drive by the church where he will attend PDO several times during our week and he always looks out the window and excitedly proclaims "There's Maddox's school!!!" He was very proud of his backpack with his name on it, his new lunch box with dinosaurs and his name monogramed on it, and he loved his new little nap mat (in fact he requested to sleep on this nap mat on top of his bed for a solid week).
Brad and I were excited as the day approached for him to start his new adventure; however, the day before "school" started Maddox decided this was no longer such a great idea and he was not excited at the thought of school. Tuesday morning, the big day, Maddox woke up a little cranky. GREAT. He did not want to put on his underwear, socks or wear any pants. AWESOME. He did not want to try to go potty in the big boy potty. FANTASTIC. And to top it off, just as we were getting ready to walk out of the house, he ran into his room to put Raffi on his bed and he tripped and face planted into his bed post....there are teeth marks on the bedpost where he hit his mouth. POOR GUY! So we wiped the tears, left Daddy at home to play with Paxton. Maddox and Mommy were on there way to "school" Prooving to be the big boy that he is, he did NOT want me to  hold his hand as we walked to his class room. He wanted to carry his backpack and lunch box all by himself and he strutted his little 2 year old body into his classroom. While proving to be such a big boy in so many ways, that quickly changed as he immediately clung himself to me as we walked into his room. That little hand of his grabed my hand so quickly and would not let go. Oh my goodness, that was the hardest morning for me as a mommy. He cried and cried as it was time for me to leave. I finally got out to my car then lost it. I called Brad and just started sobbing. I just wanted to go back in there and grab him and take him back home with me.
I returned home, fed Paxton, and loaded us up to drive by the school to see if they were outside playing where I could see him (but he of course could not see me). It was perfect timing because he and his teacher were walking back to the play ground as I drove up (he had to go potty...big boy, remebering to tell his teacher when he needed to go potty). He seemed to be having a good time and my heart was more at peace.
When I went to pick him up, he ran to hug me then went right to his little cubby and got his backpack and lunch box and climbed himself right up in the the stroller. To say that he was ready to go was definatley an understatement...but he did have a smile on his face and he said that he had fun!! His teacher said he did great, that he didn't cry for long after I left and he was a fantastic listener. He told the teacher every time he needed to go potty, ate a pretty good lunch, did not nap (but he laid quietly on his nap mat). She said that he is a lot of fun and he is such a good listener. Way to go Maddox!!!
We went and had some popcorn and an Icee and talked about what a big boy he was and how proud of him we are. We told him how brave he was and that he did a great job trying something new.
Sheesh, tomorrow is our second day and I am praying for a better day. My mom had a wonderful idea to send him with a picture of me so when he gets scared that he "can't see my mommy" then he can look at that picture. I pray that this will be a wonderful experience for him, that he can make friends, have fun, create new crafts and enjoy the time as a big boy. I pray for a better day tomorrow!!