Bye, Mom!

I know I sound like a broken record, but WHERE does the time go? Where is my baby A? And when did she get to be almost four (four!?) years old?

Today was day one of preschool for my little A. She was so excited last night that she had some trouble going to sleep. She has been waiting for this day for over a month. That little taste of preschool back in July when she attended their 'camp' for three days was enough to create an intense longing in her little being and she's been anticipating this day ever since! She would talk about her school a lot this past month and about all the great things she would be doing. About her teachers and the new friends she wants to have at her birthday party next month. She is so very social and I can imagine she will make some great friends this year just as she did at daycare last year.

When R had her first day of preschool at that same school A was just a little bit of a thing sitting on my hip - just as E was on my hip today watching her sister go off to her first day of school. It was a strange deja vu for me. I put R on the bus at 8:25 and immediately piled A and E into the car for the ride to preschool. Just before getting into the car A stood nicely for a few "1st day of school" pics for her camera happy mom:



We went outside and she remembered that she needed to pick a flower for each of her three teachers:





We arrived at school and I got E into the sling and walked her to the building. She seems so big and yet so small:



Once in the building, before even getting her backpack put away in her cubby she had to hand out her flowers. In this picture the teacher behind her (C.) is the one she thinks she is handing a flower to - in reality she is handing a flower to a parent of one of the kids whose hair color is very similar. But, as much as the adults around her (including me and another teacher (T.) in the headband) tried to explain to her what was what she was so excited to share her flowers and so excited to finally be at school that she was adamant about giving out the flowers to who she thought was the teacher. It did finally get all sorted out and she realized who was who after that!



After the flowers we got her backpack put in her cubby and she washed her hands at the little sinks that she used to LOVE to play in as a baby! Here T. is showing her one of the tabletop activities (gluing macaroni into styrofoam trays) and A is already feeling right at home.


A wandered off somewhere while I was getting to know a few of the parents and catching up a bit with two of the teachers who had been at the school when R was there. (And I was given some "homework" as a board member of the school - the fall is getting busy already!) When I finally caught up with A she was engrossed in playing with the little people set right along with the newest teacher who was just hired this summer (S.) as well as another little girl. She had settled in just fine and was content to say 'bye, mom!' without any hesistation.


It is wonderful that I don't have a child who has difficulty with separation at this age, but on the other hand I do like a little lovin' in the form of a kiss and a hug and I practically had to beg for that. Geesh. In part this is because of A and her wonderfully social nature and her self-assuredness but it is also because she practically grew up at this preschool from the age of 1 to almost 3. She was there with me every day for drop-off and pick-up when R was at that school for two years. So, it's old hat to her and she is just tickled pink to be able to stay for the whole morning (and I'm sure she'd stay the whole day if they would let her!). She never really made a scene when we left R at preschool but she always went away a little sad that she had to go with boring old mom and R got to stay and play with the kids and the toys. Even at the tender age of 2 she had made some friends at R's preschool. Kids who knew A who would invite her to play for a short time before we had to leave and often it would stretch out into half an hour because I'd be chatting with other moms. Those who were new to the school were always surprised to find out that A was a younger sibling and not a part of the class because she seemed to fit right in and played so nicely with the "big kids"! And now that sweet little baby/toddler has grown into one of the big kids and gets to stay and she couldn't be happier!