Keeping Up with the Davis': Preschool

Believe it or not, my baby girl started 4 year old preschool the first week of September. She was incredibly excited to begin this new journey of "real" school. We first attended orientation a couple weeks before school began. Kate was so excited to see her friends, Nolan and Emily. Unfortunately, Kate was placed in a different class than Nolan and Emily, thus my anxiousness about her expectations. We had been talking for several weeks about what she should expect and how much fun she was going to have meeting new friends and learning new things. She did show some anxiousness about what was to come. She asked some expected questions, such as "Will I take a nap at school?" and "What snack will I get?"(She loves snack time!); however, when she said to me in almost a whisper: "Mommy, I won't have any friends in my class", my heart broke as I had a small glimpse of what was going on in that little mind. As a mother, you want to protect and shelter your child from as much as possible. The truth is that life is full of uncertainty and regardless of the age, we all face it. So, instead of protecting her from it, the best I can do is to prepare her. We talked a lot and most importantly, I listened. We talked every day about school in an attempt to ease some of her anxiety. Just as I knew she would, although she was a bit shy, she had no problem going into her new class while Mommy and Daddy went to discuss 'no fun, grown up things'. It amazes me what a mix she is of me and Kevin. When placed in a new atmosphere, she starts out very quiet and timid (like me), but quickly opens up to be the center of attention (like her Daddy). After seeing her in her class for a mere 20 minutes, I was certain she would adjust just fine.

After orientation, Kate was ready to start school. We counted down the days and talked about what fun she would have until the big day arrived. Up to this point, I had been so focused on preparing her that I hadn't even thought twice about the fact that the first day would be harder on me than it would be on her. Kate attended Goddard for 2 years, which is somewhat like a preschool. As a result, I had no concern about being emotional as I dropped her off on the first day. Was I ever wrong! The first morning of preschool was pretty typical, we hadn't gotten too far out of the routine of getting up, having breakfast and getting dressed to go to Goddard/work, which made things run a little smoother. Daddy stayed home with Monkey and I loaded up our big girl and headed off to this new chapter in her life. She talked all the way to school and got herself unbuckled as soon as we pulled into the drop off line. She hoped out of the car, gave Mommy a big kiss and off she went. As I slowly pulled away, watching her walk into the door, my eyes got blurry and I couldn't hold it back. My baby girl is growing up and it is happening so fast.