Julian's First Day of School!

I have so many posts I still want to do! Like:

*ATL Girls trip over a month ago!

*Ella Grace's 11 month post

*Uncle Berkeley came to visit

*visiting with the Sirmans/ Lunt clan in Tallahassee

*going to Destin with my family

*my mom's visit

...and that is not including the whole slew of cooking/ recipe posts I want to do!

But I want to go ahead and get yesterday's special day documented while all is still fresh in my mind.  

Here goes...

Last Friday Julian had his preschool open house!  He got to meet his two teachers and see his classroom. Here he is with Daddy about to walk inside!  (We were borrowing my mom's camera on this day, and the colors are SUPER bright; the first two look much better in b & w!)

We have read lots of books about going to school as we've been gearing up for school, and I talked about going to school enthusiastically all summer, so as to build up excitement. After all, this is his first ever experience with school, and I wanted to make sure he starts out with the right attitude! :)

Here we are finding his cubbie...

Stace and I's firstborn is mistaken for a girl when we're out and about far too often (crazy, right?!), so we decided we better do everything we can to make it clear that he is, in fact, a little boy before school.  I read an article in the latest issue of Parents Magazine suggesting ways to help your child have a positive school experience. One example a teacher gave was to prevent your child from becoming a target for a bully. (I know we're talking preschool here...but the school has older kids, too.) She specifically talked about a little boy with long hair who always got picked on and called a girl. So the night before school, Stace gave him his best little haircut yet! I absolutely love it! It's still long, but more shaped...and so handsome!

Getting psyched for school tomorrow!  "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"

Probably one of the very best things about being a mom is getting to create new traditions with my family. We started a whole bunch for school!  Like the one of measuring him the night before the first day of school. 

I found this brand new wall measuring sign at Goodwill for $5.99. It matches his room so well! 

 And this one of making a path from his bedroom to his special first-day-of-school breakfast. This year for the path I did shapes. I foresee that changing as the years go on... :)

 He thought it was so fun to pick up all the shapes and try to gather them in all his hands at once!

  I found these free printables to help spruce up his special breakfast! He'd never had a blueberry muffin before:)

 I thought it was so neat how he insisted that all the flags be in the fruit. He asked me to hand him the three that were in the muffins so he could put them in their proper location. Look at that face...

He thought the little banner was really cool when he saw it. "Mama! Mama! look at all the letters!" And then he started naming all the letters. This boy knows his letters forwards and backwards and sideways and upside-down ways...

 Lining up his cars to join him for breakfast...

 I just love how he looked in his little first-day duds!

 I love how this picture shows how small he is. One day his first day of school pic will show someone competing with that wreath in a height competition!

 Somehow, my sweet baby boy went from this: 

to this in no time flat.

I'm telling you, that picture of me with the newborn was just yesterday.

Where'd my sweet little guy go?

 And, he's back!

He is my happy, smiley boy!

 When I wrote his name on this little backpack, I got teary and my little heart just squeezed really tight.  I used to practice writing this name, and I daydreamed that one day that I'd be writing it on his school things. And there it is...

He read "Spot Goes to School" on our way to school: 

And he wanted to stop on "the green one" of "America, where the animals live"...here is my little mini-me/mini-my-dad and I...

 Another new tradition was started of having a cookie when he gets home from school while we talk about his school day!  I saw his cars still there on the table from breakfast, and had the idea to line them up to greet him when he walked through the door!

 He was pleased, indeed!

This little survey is also a new tradition we started. We filled it out before school, and then finished up the last question and the coloring portion after school.

(I took a look at his nursery lesson schedule I asked his teachers to send-- so we could reinforce his lesson at home throughout the week-- and it wasn't anything to do with temples or the "liahona"...:)

And finally, one last tradition we started was a Father's priesthood blessing on the first day of school.  After we took his first-day-of-school pictures, we came back inside and Stace gave him a blessing. He was so good, he sat quietly with his arms folded and eyes closed the whole time. Such a little rock star. In the blessing, Stace blessed him to be happy and full of joy. He blessed him that he would be excited to learn and that he would listen to his teachers, and that he would share with others, among other things. After saying amen, Julian said "Now it's Mama's turn!" I was already kneeling with my arms folded, and he came over and put his hands on my head (what a priesthood holder does when giving a blessing) and closed his eyes and was smiling. Then two seconds later, he said "ok. Go Dada!" as in "come over and give her the blessing, Dada!" hahaha:) For those of you who don't know...no, a 2-year-old does not give a blessing! haha! but I thought it was cute how he wanted to be like his Daddy:) So I got an unexpected, yet surely needed blessing:) Stace blessed me that I would be calm and happy, among other things. 

Well, both blessings came to fruition. Julian had a wonderful day at school, according to his teacher and his attitude when I picked him up! And I somehow was just so happy inside after dropping him off. I was so surprised, because on Sunday I woke up feeling so sad about it. There was a little cloud that kind of followed me around all day that day, so I knew Monday would be bad. I'm so grateful my little boy knew I needed a blessing, and I'm so grateful to have the priesthood in my home, and that my husband is a worthy priesthood holder. The blessings he gives me are always amazing, and I can feel my Heavenly Father's love so beautifully when he gives them. I'm getting off track...anyway!

I had not planned on putting him in school this year...at all. But a few months ago, I kept getting these promptings that led me to believe that school would be such a great thing for him now.  I think I tried to ignore them because it was just so not-even-on-my-mind-yet. But they kept coming, so I decided to start listening. So the research, school tours, and interviews began, and finally: it came down to two choices. There was only one spot left at each school: two days a week at School A, or three days a week at School B, both from 9-12.  I loved both schools, and it was a really, really hard decision. We prayed as hard as we could in the short amount of time we were given to decide. I kept leaning towards School B. Something inside me kept feeling like if I went with School A, I'd always wonder about School B. But I didn't know if I felt that way vice versa. But I still just couldn't make up my mind. 

It was the day before we had to decide, and we were all driving to the gym. I turned to Stace and said, as confidently as I could muster "ok, let's just do School A." (By the way, Julian didn't know the names of either school.) Then little Julian chimes in from the backseat as his nose is still in a book "I want to go to Mr. Bob's school!" Mr. Bob is the director of School B whom we met when touring it. Stace and I turned to each other with smiles, and I laughed and half-jokingly said "STACE! Out of the mouth of babes!" but we didn't really take it too seriously. 

The next morning I was on my knees praying as fervently as I could for some further direction on the matter. I knew both schools were great, and I knew I was choosing between two good things. But I wanted to know if there was one school that would be best for Julian in particular. This whole selecting a preschool business is so much easier said than done. You want your child to have the best experience possible. You want his first taste of school to lay a foundation of a love for school for the rest of his life. It was so important to me that I made the best decision.  When I got up from saying my prayers, I opened my scriptures. I immediately turned to a page in Alma in the Book of Mormon, and my eyes immediately rested on this verse:  

"And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned."

As soon as I read that verse, I knew my little Julian had given us the answer we'd been seeking the day before. School B it was! How grateful I am for a loving Father in Heaven Who knows me and loves me, and cares about the things I care about.  

I love this, and it's so true: we speak to God through prayer, and He speaks to us through scriptures. 

It was a successful first day of school!  

He did this little "hooray!" move all on his own. 

PS: yesterday, I could already see at least one reason why school would be a good thing. Ella Grace and I had SO much fun one-on-one for that little bit of time. I get to spend a few hours with my baby girl, and give her my full attention three times a week. Playing with her was pure heaven!