First day of school

Today came the time I had been excited about and dreading at the same time. I'm realizing that being a parent is a series of bittersweet moments in life.

Amelie started preschool today. She only goes 2 days a week for 1/2 day, but it's pretty monumental for this mama. As a parent, you want to raise your child to be a happy, confident person who can handle themselves in life. Each step your child takes towards independence causes the parent (okay Mom) to want to tug them back a little bit. We have to remind ourselves not to do tis, but it can be hard.

I was not so worried about the time away from her, since I knew this would go by quickly. I mainly felt nostaligic about this being a new phase in her life in which she would only be moving forward away from the dependent baby stage.

I was also worried about the initial drop off since she has been very much a Mama's Girl lately (which I treasure). If she curled that bottom lip, or clutched at my neck, I wasn't sure I'd be able to withstand the pressure.

Allen and I walked her to school this morning and were there a little earlier than the start time. This is when all of the kids from all the rooms meet in the lunchroom and then are taken to their own classrooms when school starts. We thought we'd get there early to hang out with her a few minutes before leaving. Unfortunately, when we got there, many of the kids were crying (and not just a light wimper either) and I don't think that helped. I asked the teacher what was the best thing to do and she told me to just let her take her. So I did and told Amelie I loved her and would see her soon. We had to just walk away so as not to drag it out and make it worse, but when Amelie started crying and yelled out "Mama!" boy was that a tough thing to do!! I had to choke back a sob, but I did it.

I met my friend Amy for breakfast afterwards to have someone to vent to. Her girls had started kindergarten a few weeks ago, so I had done the same for her on that milestone day. Afterwards, I called the school to see how she was doing and the director told me she did much better when she got to the classroom.

I was pretty eager to pick her up and got there a little early. I couldn't wait to see how she was interacting in the class and what her reaction would be to me. When I walked in, the director stepped out of the office to give me her bunny which Amelie allowed to have a nap for the rest of the day while she was in school. The director said Amelie did much better when bunny was out of sight and temptation of reaching.

When I walked into the room, Amelie was playing happily. She saw me and gave me a huge smile and walked up to me with a huge hug. Needless to say, I was very happy to see her and receive this reaction.

Her teacher told me that she was the only one who helped her put things away. I was pretty proud at that moment too. The teacher even offered her a sticker for her help, but Amelie just said, "No thanks". Her teacher also told me that she hadn't gone potty that day. They take all of the kids at once several times a day. Amelie told her, "I'll just go when I get home". Well, she held it!

Later, I took her out for ice cream as a treat. Throughout the day, she kept hugging me and saying "Thank you for picking me up today". Bless her heart! I wonder what she was thinking during the day when I left!

I took some pictures this morning, but she was not a cooperative subject. She was not to keen on being sent off to school for the first day even though we had tried to prep her for the past few weeks talking about what would happen (she would go to school, Mama would work and pick her up afterwards). We tried all kinds of things to ease the transition - even role playing. I'm not sure what difference any of it made in the end though, but we did get through the first - and hardest - day.