Graham is on his way to preschool (sniff, sniff)

Well, it has been a LONG search, but we are just about ready for Graham to start preschool.  My first preschool tour was in the beginning of April and since then, I have looked at so many, I’ve lost count. 
After narrowing down the field, Nick toured several schools and we ultimately decided on BHY. 
Since making our decision, there have been a string of additional site visits, meetings, and forms to fill out. 
All of this culminated in a full ‘mock’ day on Tuesday, 6/26/12. 
Graham was sooooo excited that he was going to be going to school.  I packed an extra set of clothes and a few other things in a backpack and Graham insisted that he wanted to wear the backpack as we headed out to the car (2 years, 6 months, 3 days old):

I spent the entire 4 hours just watching.  I didn’t interact with Graham or the staff.  I wanted to see what was going on but let them do their own thing. 
As I suspected, Graham did not have any anxiety issues and fell right into the routine. 
He was so proud when it was time to pick out his own chair and sit at the table with his new friends for snack time:

Graham had a great time, but I left feeling a little depressed.  It is only after a couple days of reflection that I have come to the conclusion that we have made an excellent preschool choice and I’m officially excited for Graham to start this new chapter in his life (first day will be Tuesday, July 10th). 
While observing, it became clear to me that it would be impossible for the teacher to give Graham the undivided one-on- one attention that he has had from me for the past 2.5 years, which is why I initially left disappointed.  BUT… I’ve come to the realization that Baby Boy Millington #2’s arrival in a few weeks means that Graham will never have that relationship with me again and BHY is going to offer him a GREAT new experience while I can give Baby Boy Millington #2 some of that same one-on-one time that has helped Graham grow into such a confident, curious, social, verbal, and incredibly happy little guy. 
It is pretty incredible when I review just some of the things Graham did during his one day at BHY.  He learned a bunch of self-help skills (which will be the focus of his class) including taking on and off his clothing, helping during his diaper change, washing his hands, using a knife, serving himself snack, cleaning up his dishes, filling and then drinking from a cup, washing a carrot that he picked himself from the garden, moving between classrooms while staying in line, and waiting his turn and then going by identifying when the first letter of his name was called.  He got to do some self-exploring play with a hammer and golf tees, observe the class fish, play on the playground and with the water table, run through the sprinklers, identify farm animals in a basket, enjoy the class train set, and participate in a special song and dance session with all the classes combined.  He ate his fill of the strawberries and yogurt snack and tentatively fed himself some of the corn on the cob, rice and bean burrito, salad, grapes, and orange lunch (much healthier than what Mommy usually offers him at home). 
The teachers worked really well together and were very loving and interactive with the kids, so I believe Graham will have that same level of attention from them, once they get to know him.  Nick and I were also pleased that half of the teachers (including the teacher Graham will start with) are male, which is not something we found at most of the preschools we observed.  BHY was also the only preschool that had the perfect schedule to allow us to keep Graham’s current wake-up and nap times and it doesn’t hurt that it is a short 5-10 minute drive away from our house. 
I turned in Graham’s paperwork yesterday and have already received welcome emails from 2 of the moms and a phone call from another. 
Our little boy is growing up!  We scheduled things to have Graham start on the same day the rest of the children will be transitioning to new teachers, so Graham won’t be the new kid walking in, but he will be starting fresh with all of his peers.  I’ll have more pictures, tears, and updates to share after Graham’s first official day, so think good, big, and exciting thoughts on July 10th!