First Official Day of Preschool

Well the day finally arrived - little did I know how very hard it would be... FOR ME. Oh my gosh I'm really hoping that my hormones are really out of whack because if they're not I have a problem. I thought I was fine - I was a total mess! Worse than Friday (though Andy wasn't with me today so I had no moral support!). Lilly seemed happy to go. We'd talked to her a little bit over the weekend. We told her she could help some of the other kids if they were upset and that she'd have so much fun with new friends and new toys. She was pulling me out of the house 10 minutes early!



She walked right down to her classroom (and I was still fine at this point with a minor stomach ache).
Posed for a picture with "Bear Bear" before heading into her class.
She started to get a little clingy and was hesitant when it was her turn to go into the classroom. They sure as heck weren't letting any parents into the room. The teacher was squatting down at the door welcoming the kids and giving them a name tag. Their bears got name tags too. Lilly went between my legs for a minute but I reminded her of the baby dolls and the kitchen she could play with and after a little coaxing from the teachers and myself she went in and I left (they shoo you away quickly). Then I had to b-line it to the bathroom where I could sob my eyes out. What the hell is wrong with me!? I tried to get myself together - my eyes weren't red - and then headed out to the "Boo Hoo Breakfast" they had set up for all the parents.

I was eyeing the food and feeling a tad funny not knowing anyone when one of Andy's friends and husband approached me and asked how I was doing... That's all it took. Started crying again and this time I knew it would be hard to stop. Felt like a total fool and was really humiliated. Other moms were looking, the director of the school came over, etc. Ugh. I tried, I really tried to be a big girl! I just kept picturing Lilly and then would well up. I smiled and said all the right things even making jokes about my emotions but inside I was totally torn apart. THREE HOURS felt like an eternity.

After an hour at the breakfast I asked the director (she had told me to do this) if she could check on Lilly before I left. She's so nice. She went down and told me they were outside and Lilly was having a ball. She took me into an empty dark room where we could watch her play from a window. But Lilly wasn't there. I could tell the director was a little nervous (for me) because she kept saying, "Maybe she's in a car" etc. But the head teacher wasn't there either (Ms. Donna). Great. So the director told me to hold on. She came back and said Lilly was fine but told Ms. Donna about a microscopic boo-boo she had on her toe and was getting a band-aid. Lilly hates band-aids. She screamed for 20 minutes last night (bloody murder) because we tried to put a bandaid on her knee. I told the director she hates bandaids and she said, "She is asking for one." So be it...

I decided I better leave before they totally think I'm the most neurotic parent on the planet. I got in my car with nowhere to go and 2 hours to kill. Talked to a great friend on her daughter's first day and then headed home.

I couldn't wait to pick her up. Walked down to the classroom with the herd of parents. Heard each child in Lilly's class cry when they saw their parents. I braced myself for the worst. Lilly saw me and fake cried and I celebrated how much fun she had and she was fine! The teacher said she was very good, never cried, asked for me a few times, but was alright. She also said Lilly cheered on all the kids and was rubbing kid's backs that were sad. That made me feel good.

So the day went well! Better than I expected (on Lilly's end). I'm hoping Wednesday will be much much easier on me.