"Ride car" sniffle, sniffle.
"Einsteins, ride car" sob, sob.
(yes, I am a terrible mother, I let him watch Little Einsteins in the car on the DVD player)
"Mommy, ride car" snort, snort.
"Door" whimper, whimper.
"Big boy bed" cries, cries.
Repeat, repeat, repeat for 50 minutes.
These are the words/sobs I hear through the locked classroom door at T-Man's "school". (They lock the door to keep the escape artists in -- T-Man would be one of those escaping.) Yesterday was his second day of pre-preschool. It only meets one day a week for an hour and 15 minutes - but those were the longest 75 minutes of both of our lives.
The beautiful scenario of dropping off my child at the classroom door, blowing kisses to each other across the room and saying goodbye only to come back and have him run to my arms and tell me all about the events of those 75 minutes never happened. He was fine before we got there, fine when we went in and put his name tag on, fine when he found a "schoo-bus" to play with, but melted down when 5 of the other kids came in kicking and screaming, sobbing, crying, etc. He thought he should then be a part of it all, he just forgot to stop!
The other mommies all left, even with their kids crying. I felt the peer pressure, so I left, too. I went to McDonald's for "medicinal" Diet Coke and then went back to the school to sit in the chairs in front of the classroom door and read my book. Thankfully I had the Diet Coke. The other 5 kids stopped their tears, but I could hear T-Man rattling the door and sobbing words of comfort; Einsteins, ride car, mommy, big boy bed, etc. I had even included his pacifier in his snack bag with a note attached saying to use only in case of emergency. This was an emergency - they tried the pacifier and even it didn't work. He cried from 9:05 until 9:55 with brief periods of rest. At 9:55 I heard one of the teachers invite T-Man to join them at the snack table. The cheese stick I packed for his snack did the trick!! He couldn't resist the cheese! The crying stopped, he ate the cheese, listened to the story, and probably just watched the other kids do "Ring Around the Rosie", but there were no more tears.
I couldn't wait to go in there to comfort him, hug him and let him watch every episode of Little Einsteins his little heart desired in the car. Talk about a heartache! Needless to say, I didn't read any of my book. Listening to his whimpers, cries and sobs was just too much! I think next week during his class I will plan on the "medicinal" Diet Coke run and maybe a trip to Dominick's for more cheese.
p.s. that's not his chic new modern bed, it's a simple chair that sits in the corner of his bedroom.
