First Day of Preschool for Tessa and Annie

Tessa and Annie are in preschool!

Starting preschool at 4.5 years old is its own kind of sacrilege here.  It's common for parents in San Francisco to agonize over preschool as much as they ultimately do over college, and it's certainly atypical to start preschool so late, so we definitely fall towards the other extreme!  I was really hoping the girls wouldn't prove us totally inept parents for keeping them home until now.  

They started a week later than Megan and Bridget, so we experienced a week of cute girls saying things like "I'm going to be brave Tessie and take care of you at school, Annie!" and "No, I don't want to go to school. I don't think I'll like my teachers (Annie)." There were a lot of conflicting emotions, but also a lot of excitement.

Luckily, excitement won out that first morning. They dressed quickly and agreed to wear clothes that matched...not to each other, though. I figure we're bringing enough confusion with these look-a-likes, we can at least spare the teachers a little by dressing them differently. Besides, they rarely want to match, and I didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama by forcing them to wear something they didn't want to wear. Oh, and while Annie was getting dressed, she asked, "What day is it?" Upon learning that it was Monday, Annie smacked the side of her head super dramatically and groaned, "Ugh, when is it going to be Friday?!" I knew that bubble where days of the week didn't matter would burst eventually ;)

Even their hair was different on the first day. As we did during Bridget's last preschool year, we have an hour between drop-offs in the morning, which means we have a "hair hour" after dropping off the big girls. This is such a luxury. I can appear (at least to the preschool teachers!) that I'm a competent mom as my neat, freshly braided girls tumble out of the van each morning. So what if said van smells vaguely of pee and stale coffee? At least hair is braided ;) This is also our book-reading hour. I can read books to my back row of buckled up girls and feel even more competent! 

(All competency will abruptly end at the end of October.)

Speaking of freshly braided girls ready for school...

 Tessa (left) and Annie (right)

We were the first ones to arrive , so we even had time for pictures out front.  I think Mary is literally skipping on her way to drop off these two pesky big sisters!

Once inside, shyness took over a bit. Mary and I went into the classroom with Tessa and Annie to help hang up their backpacks, find their seats and check things out. Of course, they weren't assigned to sit right next to each other, so there was a momentary panic from Annie. Tessa was as cool as a cucumber.

For their first school experience, I think they did really well. I left shortly after these pictures were taken. They had received name tags and barely nodded when their names were called for roll. But, I'm not exaggerating when I say that they had morphed by the time I picked them up three hours later. They were positively brimming with stories and smiles, and rattling off the names of their new friends. They seemed more worldly, suddenly, as much as a preschooler can be worldly. Tessa even said, "Thank you so much for signing us up for Happy Times, Mommy! We love it!" They couldn't wait to go back the next day, and the day after that. This morning, they wondered aloud how their "fourth day" was going to go, and very specifically, if they were going to paint :)

And for anyone interested in their twin relationship at school, they are one of three sets of twins currently enrolled at the school. According to the teachers, Tessa and Annie are the only twins who play with one another. It makes me really happy to know they're voluntarily sticking together. (Playing together yesterday involved riding a bike with a sidecar, and taking turns doing the pedaling for an exhausting 45 minutes!) Apparently, they are very unlike Megan and Bridget were in preschool, too. Already the teachers (who also had the older girls) notice that these two are on the spunkier side and not shy at all, first moments aside.

Phew! You heard it here first. Attending just one year of preschool seems to not damage young pysches...so far, and with a very small study group ;)