Kate and Yeb Start Preschool

Both of these cuties had been looking forward to preschool for months.  Kate usually takes awhile to warm up to new situations, and since she went to preschool last year and knew what to expect, she was excited all summer to do it again.  Yeb, on the other hand, saw the other two going off to school last year, so he had been begging for about 6 months to go.  The way that the district preschools work is that the 4 year olds are signed up for 4 days a week of school, but when I registered Yeb last spring I got permission for him to only go 2 days because we're still working quite a bit on attachment with him.
As the summer ended, and we felt like 4 days a week was too much for Kate and that what she needed this school year was to be home and getting parent attention.  The district worked with us and allowed Kate and Yeb to split a 4 year old slot, so they each go two mornings a week, and then the other days they're home with me one-on-one.

It has worked out beautifully.  It's been so fun to have time with each of them, and to have it be so much more relaxed than when everyone is home.  After we take the other kids off to school, we do our morning housework, and then they get to choose an activity to do with mom.  Kate usually invents a game for us to play, then wants to color or do play dough.  Yeb usually chooses to paint, and then play with toys while I fold laundry or something.  It's very low key, but they have my undivided attention on a consistent basis.

This is a typical play scene at home.  Kate and these stuffed animals were all being kitties, and all looking out the window.

Meanwhile, they're both loving school, to.  We were worried about how Yeb would do in a school setting, but he's done really well.  They both love their school friends, and are learning a lot, and are always excited to tell me what they did in class.

This is after the first day of preschool for both of them.  I asked them to show on their faces how they felt about school.  Pretty sure they were trying to smile big, but they both settled on the fake no-teeth smiles.