Tuesday was Little Cotton Candy’s first day of school, and the night before was…well, it’s over now, so that’s good.

This is his second year in preschool, and since he’s going to be at the same school with the same lead teacher as last year and many of his old friends, I assumed it would be an easy transition. That was my bad. The first day of school can be scary for anyone, kid or parent—even for teachers. Unfortunately, we were not quite prepared for dealing with pre-first-day-of-school jitters to manifest in the way they did.

The night began innocently enough, with a homemade pizza dinner, some playtime, and a bath. When I took over after bath time from Mr. CC for bedtime, things began to unravel. We read a few books, just like normal. We turned out the lights, just like normal. That’s where any similarities to a “normal” night in the Cotton Candy household ended.

Usually, we lie together quietly and I sing songs or tell stories or play soft music while Little Cotton Candy drifts off to dreamland. (We had a brief respite for a few months last spring where he would go to sleep by himself, but that ended this summer.) Last night, instead, Little Cotton Candy started wiggling around, then he started crawling to the other end of the bed. Eventually, he leapt out of bed and began running all over his room, and then the entire second floor of the house, at which point my attempts to corral him back into bed were met with total hysterics.

I admit, I did not handle it well. I left the room; he followed me out, laughing his little butt off—you know, in that sinister way overtired three-year-olds do. I put him back in his room and closed the door, holding the knob so he couldn’t get out; he started firing every hard toy he could get his hands on at the door. Finally, I gave up and went downstairs, and he followed me (that was a new one). At this point, Mr. CC and I realized that this was not an ordinary night and we could no longer treat it as such.

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The two of us took Little Cotton Candy back upstairs, and as a family we sat and talked about the upcoming school day and what was going to happen. (Momma will take you and stay for a while to play with you; then, Momma will go home and work and you will play with your friends. She will come back after nap time and pick you up, and then you and Momma will go get some juice as a special first day of school treat.) The three of us sat in a circle and took deep yoga breaths. Then, I suggested we all go for a ride to calm down; we needed to gas up the car and drop some books off at the library anyway.

The talk, the deep breaths, and the ride helped to calm everyone’s nerves (especially Little Cotton Candy’s), and we headed back home and tried bedtime again. He was asleep ten minutes after his head hit the pillow.

Whew.

The first day of school went fine. Little Cotton Candy even used the potty (twice!). Here’s to the new year, and hopefully restful nights ahead.

How did your LO handle the night before the first day of school? Did they get nervous too?