What a difference a year has made! My boy has definitely grown up and is much more confident. 

He was such a sweetie on his first day at school today.  No fuss, no cries, no separation anxieties.  Which is a stark contrast to his behaviour at the tots school last year when he was exceptionally clingy and weepy.  I’ve been rather worried since he’s been out of school for half a year, and only attended a few Saturday classes at the Montessori in November.  In fact, he was still very clingy to me at the Montessori.  So I am pleasantly surprised and happy with his new independence. 

Looks like my daily programming has worked.  For the past week, these were what I’ve been drumming into him EVERYDAY:

• You’re going to school next Thursday.
• No crying.
• No drinking from other people’s water bottle.
• Must listen to the teachers.
• Must sit when the teachers tell you to.

I guess the child friendly and spacious environment also helped.  I think he already liked the place when I brought him for enrollment a week ago.  So this time, he did not cling on to me, and took to instructions from the teachers very well.  I stayed outside the classroom and couldn’t help smiling sheepishly when I saw him behaving like a social butterfly, moving from one table to another to try out new toys.

The only teething problem was the timing.  His nursery starts at 8am and it is too early to feed him breakfast.  I had to bring his bread to feed him in class because he didn’t want the marcoroni prepared by the school.  He was actually scooping his marcoroni into another girl’s bowl to get rid of them. :roll: 

The fact that he is at school integrating well is such a big relief to me.  Especially after this incident when some idiots alleged he displayed symptom of autism.  Ever since, I’ve been worrying endlessly about his development and if he would be accepted by normal schools.  I really DETEST that Montessori!  I observed him the whole of this morning and not once did Gavin display any unacceptable social responses.  The only funny thing he did was to remove one of his shoes, and pointed to his sole, because the shoe was causing him some discomfort.

For now, I’m crossing my fingers that he’ll continue with this good behaviour and I won’t be receiving ANY complaints sooner.