That's One Way to Do It!

Those of you who know Jacob know he has a really hard time with separation anxiety. He's fine with close family, but anywhere else, he pretty much freaks out and won't give up. I'm not sure he has ever made it through the nursery at church without someone coming to get us. Today was the fourth day of school for him. The first day, I got a call 45 minutes in that said he was showing no signs of calming down. The second week I was the parent helper, so he did fine. The third week I was in Matthew's room and I could hear him crying off and on the whole day, but at least he made it. Today our plan of action was that I would stay for a bit and leave. Each week I will try and stay for a shorter amount of time. Today I stayed about an hour. I left when they went outside to play, which is the one time he tends to calm down. When we left the room I told him I was going and it didn't seem to phase him. But when I turned to go to the car instead of to the playground, the meltdown started. I was told he cried for awhile, but ended up playing okay for the last ten minutes. He was asking for his blankie (his "ba"). His teacher (Mrs. Shockley...we love her!) let him have it when they went inside. She also gave him a little photo book I had made for him that he hadn't seen yet. He curled up in their "quiet place" and next thing she knew, Mrs. Shockley saw he was asleep. He slept for about 45 minutes (through lunch!) and woke up, but stayed in the quiet place kind of dozing for the last hour. They said they could tell he was listening to the stories being read, but just chilled there. At least he didn't wake up crying or scared. He seemed okay with being there. Progress, I guess! I know when I"m somewhere I don't really want to be, like a long car ride, I sleep because it makes it go faster. He did the same for school!

This afternoon I asked Jacob what his favorite thing about school was, and he answered, "Shockley". He really does seem to like her, so that's great. Last week I asked him what his favorite thing about Mrs. Shockley was and he said, "stories". It's cute to have little mini conversations :) I remember being so excited when Matthew could "tell" me about his day at school when he was about this age. So fun.

Another fun thing, Jacob told his first joke today. This is how it goes:
J: Knock knock
Me: Who's there?
J: Nama
Me: Nama who?
J: Papa!!! (with the silliest laugh)

Makes no sense, but it's hilarious that he made it up, could tell it several times, and knew he was being funny!