Sawyer started school 3 weeks ago. It's just parent-tot preschool but it's a start. If I would have written this post 3 weeks ago when he actually started it would have gone something like this.... Sawyer was the best student in the class. He participated in everything. Shared. Listened to his teacher. Lined up when he was supposed to. When it was time to go home he lined up for his sticker and acted very proud. He was perfect.
OK, now reality has set in so you get to hear what preschool is like now that he's little more comfortable. Here's the progression; Week 1: he was the star student and a perfect angel. I was so proud. I thought it was all my stellar parenting skills. I thought, "Audrey was always perfect at school so why shouldn't Sawyer be?" Week 2: Sawyer became the "Godfather" of all things transportation and tried to intimidate the other children into NOT playing with him or anything in the class that was transportation related. When the clean up song came on he declared that there was no way he was parting with any of his vehicles and proceeded to have a temper tantrum. When it was time he told the teacher he didn't want one of her stickers, tried to get the trucks back out, and had to be carried out of the preschool kicking and screaming. Week 3: When we got in the car on the way there he told me he wasn't going to dance or sing and that he didn't want a sticker. I kept quiet. The first half of the class time I thought we had turned a new leaf and he was back to Week 1 status. He actually let the other kids touch the transportation items and he even played in the kitchen and painted. I was too optimistic. Although he refused to sing and dance I was OK with that. It's just not his thing. However, what I am not OK with is his stubborn nature and temper tantrums when it comes time to clean up and go. When it was time to clean up he decided to knock all the blocks off the shelf and scream at the top of his lungs. While I was resisting every urge to strangle him I did remain calm and picked up the blocks. He then told the teacher he didn't like her stickers and he didn't want one. How embarrassing! They were flower stickers but what kid doesn't like a sticker? Oh well, I can only hope that Week 4 will be better.
The hard part is you can't even talk to him about his behavior beforehand because that only makes things worse. If he knows I don't want him to do something or behave a certain way then he will be sure to do it. There are so many positive things about his personality but boy is he stubborn. He makes me want to have a drink at 3:30 in the afternoon!
