Last night, I didn't sleep. I tossed and turned thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong today. Don't get me wrong, I knew she would be in wonderful hands. She has an amazing teacher, and I knew everything possible would be done to help her have a good experience, but even though she is A LOT better than she once was, Rylee Love can be difficult at times. She's very quirky, and if you don't know her quirks, it can be easy to set her off. I just could picture a total meltdown happening at school, my place of employment, her place of education, it was a waking nightmare. This morning I felt even worse as she cried and fought me over every step in getting ready. She kept saying, "I just want to stay with you. I don't want to go to my new school!" It broke my heart. I just knew it was going to be an absolutely awful day.
But I grinned and kept up an excited face. I turned on "Let It Go" in the car, and we played it on repeat. Around the 4th time, she started to join in, and I knew things were turning around. By the time we got out of the car, she was thrilled to be at her new school. She came into my classroom and set Pinky down. She said Pinky can take a nap today, and she left him there. I couldn't believe it! Then she excitedly walked to her class, and she was so happy to spot her teacher. As I walked away she was grinning and walking with an assistant to wait for her school to start. (Pre-K begins about 30 minutes after the rest of the school and ends later as well to help with traffic congestion during drop off and pick up times.) I hoped her good mood would continue, but I worried throughout the morning. It was EXTREMELY hard knowing she was so close, but I couldn't go in and see her. At recess, I saw her walking out to the playground in her line, and I was so proud of her. She was doing awesome. She didn't even want to stop for a second and talk to me. She spotted Bailey and ran to go play!
She ended up having a great day, and has been talking nonstop about her new school. She loves it. There's a few things she's going to have to get used to, especially concerning breakfast, lunch, and snack, but she didn't freak out about anything. She woke up from her nap time a little disoriented, and she wanted me to carry her back to my room. But I honestly didn't mind taking her up in my arms after such an anxious day. She and Bailey watched a movie while I met with some other kindergarten teachers about lesson planning, and then we were off to drop Bailey off and pick up Pay-Pay.
When we got home, she couldn't wait to show her daddy "hips and lips." She said, "I'm good at school. I know how to be quiet. Teachers don't like when kids don't know how to be quiet." I couldn't help but laugh at that. When I asked what she learned, she said, "I learned about hips and lips. I also learned about singing and dancing. We sing Frozen at school in our special music classroom." I'd say her first day at "big girl" school was a success! I can't believe how grown she is. She has a lot to learn, but she is only 4. I feel silly that I put so much pressure on her and especially on myself as her mom for her to be perfect at school. She's doing great, and I am so proud to be her mommy!
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