Not to the East Side - just across the hall. This morning the Bomber and his classmates, plus three new kids, started in a new room with new teachers. After last year's transition, where he wailed inconsolably every morning for a week, and didn't utter more than a few words at a time for a month, I was a little worried. They did a transition week last week, where his class spent part of the day in the old room with the old teachers, and part of the day in the new room with the new teachers. And, in fact, he did have several mornings of wailing (not of the inconsolable variety; more of the "this isn't what I want to do!" variety).
Surprisingly, though, the wailing was on the mornings where he had to go with the old teachers to the old room. He was really REALLY excited about the new teachers and the new room. This morning while he was getting dressed he asked me which room he was going in, and I told him he was with Ms. J and Ms. C from now on, and he actually jumped up and down and yelled YAY! I don't know what was up with that - I thought he really liked the old teachers, and until three or four weeks ago, he'd never complained about going to school. One of the old teachers seems like she has some stuff going on that's making her unhappy; I wonder if he picked up on that. And I hate to be one of those parents who thinks her kid is a genius, but I really think part of it is that he was bored with everything in the old room; he'd done all the puzzles a zillion times, knew all the books by heart, and had mastered all of the skills they work on there a long time ago.
Anyway, my baby is growing up and learning stuff like crazy, and has plunged ahead into a new adventure with enthusiasm and aplomb. You can't ask for more than that. I still got weepy over my favorite of the old teachers this morning. And she got weepy, too, and asked how he was doing. I felt awful telling her he was excited beyond belief, so I just told her he seemed fine, but I was a mess. My crying seems to have distracted her nicely, though.
This time next year, I'll officially be the mother of a preschooler, though they've been doing a preschool-type curriculum with them for nine months already. It seems like just yesterday I handed my tiny infant over and then cried my eyes out for four hours. Where has the time gone?