I’m A Survivor (of the first day of preschool)

Well, we survived!  Today was Hadley’s first day of preschool/Mother’s Day Out (the school calls it “younger preschool” but it’s essentially Mother’s Day Out). 

Matt came with us this morning for drop off (I think he was worried I wouldn’t actually leave), so that helped to have an extra distraction in the morning.  She got a little sad when we first got there and she saw all of the kids around here; I think it was a little intimidating.  She did really well at drop off, though (more than I can say for myself), and Matt and I headed back to the car.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten her nap mat at home, so I had to run home to get it and bring it back up to school.  I left it with the receptionist so that Hadley wouldn’t see me, but her teacher saw me (over the half door) and gave me a thumbs up.  However, you can see into her classroom from the walkway to the parking lot, so I spied on her for a quick second on my way out and could see her crying and grabbing the teacher’s hands trying to get them to the door. 

I spent my free time catching up on the DVR, crying and doing a little retail therapy.  Sitting around the house made me so sad and I could hardly keep my eyes dry, so I decided to shop away the tears. :) It was definitely nice to be able to take my time in a store, but I did miss my shopping buddy.  I grabbed some lunch and headed up to the church for pick up a little early (I got there almost 45 min early and enjoyed a quiet lunch in the car while I waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass before I went inside). 

When I got there she was playing happily with a giant bowl of play food.  I was so relieved to see she wasn’t crying when I got there.  Her teacher said she did really well overall, although she did acknowledge that she was pretty sad in the morning.  She said once they went outside she perked right up and had a good afternoon (and even napped a little!).  If only their day could start with going on the playground!  I packed a pretty big lunch for her so she’d have options (she is the PICKIEST eater right now), and she did pretty well on it!  I tried to pack things that I know she always likes so she got cheese, ham, pretzels, grapes, apples, a squeeze pack of applesauce and a pumpkin muffin.  She ate the cheese, most of the fruit and pretzels and her applesauce so I’m glad she at least ate while she was there!

I made little note pads for her teachers and Hadley was really cute giving them to her teachers this morning when we got there.

This was her “report card” for the day.  I really wish they had filled in how long she slept for, but all they said was that she did sleep for a bit. 

And her first piece of art!  I know we will have thousands of these over the years, but I’m pretty sure this one will have a special spot in the baby book (at the very least) or a frame!

She didn’t eat her pumpkin muffin for lunch, so we had those for a treat when we came home to play.

All in all, it went pretty well!  Although I will say that I’m pretty nervous for Thursday because she’ll know what’s coming.  I’ve heard the second and third times can be a lot harder than the first day!  Praying for peace from the mom-guilt of leaving her there and a tear-free (or at least less tears) next day!