Cole's First Field Trip & School Christmas Program

Today I went with Cole on his school field trip. We rode the City bus into downtown, walked 3 blocks and went to see the Holiday Junction display at the BMO Harris Bank. Riding the City bus made me want to barf so next time Nick will be taking off work and going in my place. I get car sick easily and all the jerking and stopping of the bus put me over the edge. Cole was super excited to ride the bus and loved to point out the window and chatter about who was getting on/off the bus and what they were doing. We sat next to his friend Julia and her Mom and thankfully her Mom was feeling better than me and sang songs with the kids.

Once at the bank we walked around with his friends and talked about the trees, the automated animals and mostly the train the kids could climb. It was kind of interesting, the display is in the lobby of the bank and it was business as usual...with about 20+ preschool kids and parents running about. I have been feeling a little extra paranoid lately and did look around for a safe place to hide/run with Cole if a crazed gunman were to appear. Thankfully that wasn't necessary and we enjoyed the display and playing with classmates.


Cole wasn't the only one who beelined for the presents, one little girl tore the wrapping paper!

 

Cole is looking down at a little boy who looked a bit like Henry, he later ran up to him, yelled "Henry!" and gave him a hug. Luckily Chase and his grandma were okay with Cole's affection. I think we both missed Henry a little bit.



Tuckered out; ready to head back to school for cocoa and cookies

After the field trip the plan was to head back to school (another long bus ride) for cookies, cocoa and some singing by the kids. The party was held in the 3-4 classroom (Cole is in 2-3) and Cole only wanted to play with their cool big-kid toys. So he ate no cookies. When it was time for his class to gather at the front and sing...Cole wanted cookies and threw himself on the ground and moaned when his teacher asked him to come sing. So that was awesome. I even packed our video camera, all for naught. I did do some taping of Cole's class singing and ringing bells and then panned to the opposite side of the room where Cole was happily riding a plastic airplane.

After the Christmas program (if you can call it that) the kids were to give their handmade presents to their parents. They all lined up, got the gift and then with prompting from their teacher they were supposed to give it to us and say "Merry Christmas!"I got lucky, Cole followed directions and was happy and proud to give me our present. He was the only one. One Mom got hers thrown at her with no comment and most others just handed it over silently. After this last scheduled activity most of the kids lost it.  It was a long morning (for everyone!), nothing was as expected with a lot of new experiences. There was lots of crying and yelling and Mom's rolling their eyes and heaving exasperated sighs. I did a lot of sweating trying to get Cole out of school and into the car.



Putting our present under the tree

After the field trip we were supposed to go pick up Henry from Grandma's house but we both needed some time to chill. Cole got to eat a cupcake for lunch while watching TV. Best 30 minutes of the day.

 

So that was our field trip day. Not only was it Cole's first field trip and City bus ride, it was also my first field trip day as a parent and my first City bus ride. So a big day for both of us!