The wheels on the bus...

Mommy: CR, you start school today!

CR: I get to ride the bus??!!
Mommy: No, not the bus, Mommy will drive you, but the point is you're going to SCHOOL!
CR: I'm going to AW's house?
(In order to pump him up for the idea of going to school, we have been referring to CR's cousin AW and telling CR that he is such a big boy like AW to go to school)
Apparently he missed the point of our "Big Boy" analogy, and thought AW's house was where big boys go to school, but boy did he do great today on his first day.

I have to admit, I think I had a lot more reservations about how he would react to being in a class with 10-14 other kids, most of them older and bigger than him (at under 3 years old, he is the youngest, and not shockingly, the most petite pupil in the group). I drove him to school at 8:30am, and hung out for the first hour and a half to make sure he felt comfortable. I planned on staying the whole time he was there, but he quickly warmed up to his teachers, and to all the other little people around him.

He participated in "circle time," and volunteered to put the weather sticker on the calendar - he looked out the window when the teacher called him up, and he told her it wasn't snowing, and that it was cold outside.

At snack time, CR sat at the table in the kitchen (the little bugger chose the seat at the head of the table, of course), and gulped down water and graham crackers with his new buddies. At that point, I told him I was leaving for a bit, and would be back later, and he said "okay, Mommy." And with that, I was off to run a few errands and do work until it was time to grab him at noon.
This is going to be great for both of us - he gets to play with kids his own size and around the same age, and I get to actually get some things done without having CR in tow...a win-win.
I hope this positive acceptance of change continues, and that he stays excited about school. I am going to enjoy the next 10 or so weeks of my new-found freedom...it's only a few hours a couple of mornings a week, but it is something I really haven't had since CR was born. My life will again be run on someone else's schedule once the bean arrives, but until then, I will use my free time wisely.