Today was Derek’s official first day of preschool, and it surprisingly did not start off well.  For months on end, we heard nothing but “I wanna go to school….when can I go to school?”….etc from him.  But then right before he had his “try it out – discovery day” at school back in January, he started saying that he didn’t want to go.  So we kind of dropped it for a while.  Then as scheduled, he started this morning.  We told him he was going to school, but we tried to be very gentle about it and focus on how much fun he was going to have, etc.  Well, he was an emotional wreck all morning.  Crying and just not wanting to go.  If you know Derek at all, you know that this is the COMPLETE opposite of his personality.  He has more personality in his little finger than most adults.  He is a social butterfly.  Loves to play with other kids all the time, and will go up to complete strangers in any store and introduce himself, hug them, and just be completely adorable and lovable.  So that’s why his tears and clinging for dear life was so surprising this morning.

We did manage to get him into the class and just had to have the teacher carry him away to concentrate on something else so we could leave.  I called to check up on him a couple of hours later and he was doing fine and starting to be his normal, exuberant self already.  So, I know he’ll be just fine, but man is it difficult to leave your firstborn child when he’s crying and begging you not to leave him there.

BUT!!!!  I wasted no time after coming home and got back to my puzzle table for the first time in what seems like ages!  I was able to spend about an hour, a GLORIOUS hour! with it while Cole was sleeping. It felt sooo good!  Here are some updated pictures.