On weekdays I normally stick to Oatmeal Pancakes, but yesterday our oldest, Eamon, started Pre School. We spent the last week preparing him and honestly, ourselves, for that first drop off. We went to the open house, watched the episode of Daniel Tiger where he goes to school, and explained as best we could, to a two year old, what was going to happen his first day.

I had no idea how our first drop off would go. Would he cry and cling to us, would he pull out one of his rare but impressive mega tantrums, or would he be so excited he wouldn’t even notice we were gone.

There was just no way to know, so rather than torture myself imagining the worst possible outcomes I focused on all the ways we could celebrate his first day and send him off on a positive note.

Starting with a big pancake breakfast, not just pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, fluffy, melt in your mouth pancakes with a hint of vanilla, topped with real maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream.

I made them ahead and had them ready for his first morning of school. We called them “happy first day pancakes” so he felt suitably special and celebrated. After breakfast we went to the playground to burn off a little energy and take his obligatory first day pictures. I printed his sign and glued it onto a sheet of cardstock. Isn’t he handsome!

We brought him to school and to my amazement everything went smoothly. He was a little nervous but we didn’t need the jaws of life to pry a screaming child from our legs and it was obvious he had a great time. He couldn’t wait to show me all of his art work and tell me all about the playground.

Sure, it could have been the preparation but I think it was the First Day Pancakes that set the tone for his great first day of school!