Rylee's First Day of "School"

      Today was Rylee's first day at New Life Learning Center. She's starting in the 2-year-old pre-k room. Yesterday was Ryan's first day at Unilever, but I was off school for President's day, so Mary and I and our girls had a girls day out. It was the perfect way to spend Rylee's last day before going to school for the next 15 years, plus at least 4 years of college. Ha! We took the girls to Chik-fil-a for lunch, playtime, and ice cream. Then we headed to the Dyersburg mall for some shopping fun! It was a great day!

      Rylee does not like to be waken up, so this morning had a little bit of a rough start, but she quickly got excited about going to school. She ate her breakfast, a chocolate pop tart and vanilla almond milk, on the way to school and laugh and talked excitedly the whole way. When we got out of the car, she was so excited to be at school. I could tell she was a little nervous because she brought Pinky the bear with her, and he's a security item for her, but she was smiling and laughing and really excited.

      When we got in the door, I had to drop off some paperwork, and she was excited and anxious to go in and see the other kids. However, when we got in there, 2 children were crying and that scared her. She got upset and Ms. Cindy quickly came to the rescue and snuggled her until she cheered up which only took a second, because Aunt Liz and Kade came walking through the door. She was so excited to see a familiar face! She was happy by the time I left her, which made going to work a lot easier for me. :)

    When I picked her up, she was playing her heart out with another little girl, and she was as happy as can be. This face is because she didn't want to go home! She told Ms. Krista, "See you tomorrow!" and we headed on our way home. She talked about her day the whole way home. She was so excited. Ms. Krista said she played all day like she'd been going there forever. She ate her lunch like a big girl, napped well (after she got used to the idea of sleeping on a cot on the floor), and she didn't have any accidents (something I was worried about in a new situation). She kept Pinky the bear and her silky nearby all day, but When I got there, she had them in a pile on the rug while she was playing, so I'm glad she felt secure enough to put them down. I am so proud of my big girl! I can't believe she goes to school!!