The Academy

Jack has been attending Chesterbrook Academy for about 5 weeks now. Well, 5 weeks very on-and-off as he keeps coming home with one illness or another that requires him to stay home the next day - "he's building up immunities" has become our mantra. Don't let the fancy, dare I say pompous, name fool you Chesterbrook Academy is basically day care. It hasn't been an easy 5 weeks. On the first day, Jack did great. Dan and I dropped him off in the morning and he clung a bit but eventually let us hand him over to Miss Darla. He did great, I was a bit of a wreck though. When we got back to the car after leaving the little guy I started crying. It was just so hard for me to let him go. He looked so small in that big room with all the other kids around and he didn't know anybody and even worse they really didn't know him. What if he needed a snuggle and they didn't notice him or if he got thirsty or scared and they didn't know what to do or did it wrong? What if he needed his Mommy? But I made it through the day, hovering by the phone the entire time just in case they called, and rushed out to pick him up as soon as I imagined nap time was over. He did great that day but sadly it has gone downhill since then. He has started to recognize The Academy when we pull up in the car and starts this pathetic little whimper in the backseat. When we get inside he starts crying and I have to pry him out of my arms and hand him off to a teacher. In the afternoon, as soon as he sees me he starts crying and runs to me. It has been hard on me. I hate thinking that he is unhappy or anxious while he is there. I know that he will get more comfortable over time. In fact, I'm fairly certain that he will love it once he gives it a chance. Until then I'll steel myself every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning when I drop him off and trust that he will be fine in the capable hands of the teachers at The Academy.