First Day of Pre-School

Today was the day---Kyndall's very first day of pre-school!  We've all been excited and looking forward to it since we enrolled her last week.  Matthew and I have been talking about it constantly and really trying to build her excitement, in hopes of making it an easy and FUN transition----For ALL of us!

My biggest concerns were her sleeping on the mat at nap time (or at least staying put on it!) and eating her lunch.  There isn't much I can do about the lunch thing except try to incorporate fun food ideas, but I can continue to work on that as time goes on.  With the mat, we started "practicing" at home by letting her lay on it, touch it, talk about it, etc.  I hoped that this would get her excited about the idea of sleeping like a "big girl".  Mostly, she just thought it was funny to be going night night on the floor!

Last night I began the process of packing up her little backpack and fixing her lunch for the next day.......

A cheese sandwich (which I knew she probably wouldn't eat, but it made me feel better at least knowing it was in there), a fruit squeezie (which she will ALWAYS eat) and a bag of pretzels (hit or miss).  A lunch fit for a queen.....errr a picky queen!

Her mat, sheet, lovie and blanket will all stay in this bag at school until the end of the month when the whole thing is sent home for washing

Packed and ready to go!

I was a little over excited last night and couldn't seem to fall asleep so I spent entirely too much time making this sign for the next day...........

The day has come!

The backpack was slightly heavier today than the days she's been wearing it around the house empty!

 

 I let her choose what she wanted for breakfast and she asked for a Pop Tart. So typical!

 

I have no idea why, but she insisted on taking the sign with her.  Fine with me---it's another photo opp!  =)

So, so soooo excited!

I think the best part of the day was driving into the parking lot and seeing DADDY waiting for us!!  I had no idea he was coming to see his baby girl off on her first day!  GREAT surprise!  I'm so thankful that he FINALLY has the flexibility with his new job to be able to do things like this! 

 

She was SO excited!!

We probably looked like the biggest dorks ever, all three of us walking hand-in-hand through the front door with big grins on our faces.  Oh well, your baby only has ONE "first day of school" and we were proud to be there with her!

We left her in her class with no problem at all---In fact, as I was lingering and making small talk with the teacher, she pointed to the door and said "weave" (leave)  Not sure how I felt about that, but at least I knew she wasn't going to be sad and we had done a good job of explaining the drop off process to her! 

It felt weird to drive away and not have her in the backseat of my car.  I've never left her anywhere except with the Grandparents and for a few hours each week in the church nursery.  So this was a BIG day for me!  I almost didn't know what to do with myself---I had five whole glorious hours to myself!! 

About an hour after I dropped her off I got the sweetest text from her teacher Mrs. Glory.  It said "Your little sweetie has fallen right into place.  She acts like she has been here all along!  We love her already!  Enjoy your day and we'll see you this afternoon!"

She attached this picture.......

 

How could I not smile and breath a sigh of relief after reading and seeing that??  It meant the world to me and I did exactly as she said and enjoyed the rest of my day without any worries!

I picked her up at 2:30 expecting a big warm welcome and instead she looked at me and started crying!  WHAT?!  She did NOT want to leave!  (Again, I'm thankful for that but geez, what a let down for me!)   I told her I had a prize in the car (which I did) and that did the trick.  

Her teacher said she did great and didn't give them any trouble at all!  She didn't eat very well, which I expected and she also didn't nap......at all!  The teacher said she wasn't disruptive, but just wouldn't lay down and get completely quiet so they sat her at a table with another little boy who they said never naps.  I apologized over and over and they assured me that eventually she would get the hang of it just like all the other kids did.  I sure hope so!

On the way home I asked her about her day and she just kept saying in the most pitiful voice....."back" "back".  Apparently, she wanted to go back!  

I figured she'd be starving and exhausted when we got home so I gave her a quick snack and then put her down for a nap to make up for lost time.

She requested another Pop Tart.........sigh...........

 

One of the things I've been most excited about is getting cute little arts and crafts projects sent home each week.  I'm sure after a few months these things will be taking over my house an I'll be secretly trashing some of them, but for now I'm pretty excited to admire her work!

These hearts are made from her thumbprints 

"O" is for Owl

I was also happy to see this---A detailed calendar of their curriculum for the month.  My favorite part is the Bible verses that they are helping them to memorize!  It's never too early to saturate her little mind and heart with the Word of God!

Her daily report card

Now she's sound asleep and I am sitting here in shock that my itty bitty just had her first day of pre-school!  Wasn't it just yesterday that she looked like this????.................