Frederick Goes To School

Yesterday was the first day of school for both Thomas and Frederick. After spending weeks (in Thomas's case) and months (in Frederick's case) trying to figure out where they should go and how we could possibly finance it all, we decided that Thomas should stay at The Valley School (which, on the brink of financial disaster in May was flooded with new students in August--weird)and that Frederick should go to Manley. For those with good memories, Manley is indeed the same school Frederick tried two years ago and, after 8 or 9 months of low-level misery, it went horribly wrong and we pulled him out. But now he is starting kindergarten and will have Miss Perkins as a teacher, and all the school officials you could stand to talk to at any one time assured us that everything will be fine this time around. Simon was too afraid to take him yesterday, so it became my job. And yet Frederick was not in the least anxious--he sang the whole way to school (a tune he must have invented because no one knows what else it could be: "In the summertime, maybe, baby. In the sunny time, baby, baby. Anytime, maybe, baby. All the time, baby, baby."), skipped into the building and into his classroom, and then happily waved me off as I left. All day I was a mess, imagining meltdowns and despair...But apparently the day was great: he loved circle time (he was the loudest and most enthusiastic singer), loved playing with toys (the dollhouse the best), and loved lunchtime (ate a large slab of ham (argh!) and then stole his classmate's deli bun and polished that off with gusto. Today I took him to school again (Simon claiming that he "just can't") and again I feared the worst...but again nothing bad happened. He skipped into the classroom, went straight to the library, got a book, a few toys and went right to his chair for circle time. Here he is waiting patiently for his classmates (who ride the bus) to arrive so class can begin:



Here is the art center:

Here is the "wind down" area for venting stress and anxiety:

I try not to get my hopes up, but maybe Frederick will really like school.