Daddy Duty -- Part Two

So Day Two of Daddy Duty meant preschool.

My son goes twice a week for two hours a day. There are six kids in the class, two boys and four girls. There are two phenomenal teachers who are very welcoming to parents who want to visit for a while.

I had visited one other time for a bit, but it had been a while, so I thought it would be fun to spend some more time in the classroom. My plan was to drop him off at the start and then return with about 40 minutes left.

I get a kick out of seeing him in an area I rarely see him in. It's fun just to watch and follow him as he leads me through his routine. We walked in and then he put his backpack in his own cubby, and then he took his jacket off and hung that up, too. I was ready to go in to the room, but he told me we couldn't because a teacher wasn't inside yet. Oh.

The teacher came, he went in, and I was then virtually non-existent. That alone is a huge change. He's a very private kid. Has mostly kept to himself. But, the good news, is that the teachers have said (and we see it, too) that he is really coming out of his shell.

So I then left for a bit and came back at 10:30.

It was too cold outside, so they were playing in a large social room at the school. My son, on his own, was playing with some construction trucks. We quickly got into that together, and after a few minutes, it was time to go back in the classroom.

Here was one of the impressive parts. Getting him (or any 2.5 year old) to wash hands is not always easy. But, the teacher says, "ok, boys and girls, time to wash hands" and they all walk right to the bathroom and line up against the wall. One teacher squirts soap in their hands and they begin scrubbing.

Then, the other teacher stands at the sink, calls them over one at a time and they rinse and dry off. It was incredibly cute to watch.

Back in the room, it was time for a project focused on identifying shapes. They had a piece of paper with a number of shapes on it. The kids had to name the shape and then glue a piece of paper in that shape and affix it to the paper.

I had never seen my son use a glue stick. Didn't even know he could. Well, he could. When he finished, he just got up, didn't say a word and took the paper out to the hall.

Nobody said a word -- not even one of the teachers. But, I'm there thinking, Ok, where's he going? More importantly, why aren't one of his teachers following him?

Well, 20 seconds later, when he was back in the room -- but without his paper, I got the answer.

"Where did you go, bud? And where's your paper?"

"Put it right in cubby to go home, Daddy."

I caught the teacher's eye at that point and she just smiled and nodded. I mean, this wasn't the most important thing in the world, but, again, it's just nice to see him come out of his shadow and know what he can and can't do at school.

So toward the end of the class, I went outside the classroom. That's where all the parents wait to pick up their kids.

A few minutes later, he came right out with his coat on, a smile on his face and his attention turned toward his cubby, where he retrieved not only his backpack, but the project he worked on earlier.

He brought it right up close to show me -- even though I had already seen it when he was working on it.

That's OK, though. I'm not going to complain at all with a kid, that at his age, is excited to show off the work he did at school. Even if I did help him put it together just a few minutes earlier.

That's not the point. the point is, my son loves school -- at least for now!

What else? I got nothin'.