Daisy's first day of pre-school

Today was Daisy's first ever day at Whispering Oak Montessori Academy.



In typical "me" fashion, I was not at all worried. In fact, I was excited. The things she would learn! The opportunities to socialize! The sense of independence she would gain!

This is what I envision my job as a mother to be: to teach her to be an independent soul.

So, while everyone else's stomach was churning, I was full of eager anticipation.

As I anticipated, she did great. Of course, she got cold-feet at the last minute and claimed that she didn't want to go but, once we got into the classroom, she walked off to play with toys and pretty much barely noticed our departure,

Hubby and I took the day off, in anticipation of overwhelming emotions. They didn't come. Instead we went for breakfast and shopped for a new DVD player.

And then it came time to pick her up.

Gawd, I was NOT ready for that.

We saw her walking around in the outside play area for toddlers. Her face was sullen, she looked up at me with sulky eyes, kicking  dirt around with her feet. Her face did not light up at my arrival. She was actually mad/disappointed in me. {Gulp}

Turns out, she had been watching parents pick their 1/2 day kids up since noon and was beginning to doubt my return.

When she finally walked over to me and I picked her up, she wrapped herself around me, arms and legs squeezing tight, head resting on my shoulder, and shaking with the last ebbs of a held-back sob.

I almost lost it. I wasn't ready for the pick-up to be more emotional than the drop-off.

"Mummy came to see you!" she exclaimed, typically mixing her pronouns. God, she really thought I might not come and get her? The internal anguish set in.

And then, as we were walking with the teacher, hearing about her day and picking up her stuff, she said, ever-so-quietly to me, through shuddering breaths: "Had a great time, Mumma."

Damn, this kid is a killer. She'd had a great day but had been worried that we were not coming to get her and now was trying to hold back tears that we had arrived to pick her up.

I. LOVE. HER.

So, it turns out that she did have a pretty good day, only getting upset a couple of times, and - get this - she even napped for more than hour! Something I was convinced would never happen in a group setting.

As I said in a previous post. She continues to surprise me in new ways every day.