DeLappenings: Chica's First Day of (Pre)School

So...this happened yesterday:

But instead of stringing together coherent thoughts on the subject (which might not really be possible at this raw, my-firstborn-baby-just-started-school-for-the-very-first-time stage, ha), I'll just give you a list of everything I felt the night before, the morning of, right after the drop off, while she was away from me, and after she was back home.

Anxious

Sick

Excited

Prepared

Settled

Shaky

Overwhelmed

Unsettled

Rushed

Proud

Enthusiastic

Aimless

Quiet

Reassured

Preoccupied

Blue

Worried

Thrilled

Relieved

Abnormal

Nostalgic

Clingy

And that's just the short list. And just my short list. So imagine how her little brain and emotions probably felt, ha.

I won't leave you in suspense the whole post. I'll just tell you right here and now that she did so great :)

But before I give a few details, I'll rewind to the day before, when she worked on her very first school assognment.

She was given a bag at the meet-the-teacher night that she was told to decorate and fill with two items that told something about herself/what she liked.

So she decorated...

And colored methodically with every crayon in the box...

And wrote her name on it :)

And then, after much deliberation (I offered item suggestions and she had strong opinions that changed often, ha), she filled the bag with:

#1: The butterfly we made together a few days ago, because she likes to do projects.

#2: Her Doc McStuffins stethoscope, because, "I like to check people's heartbeats." :)

Then came the morning of.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays--which will be her school days--we'll have to get up and going slightly early than we're accustomed to. At least until we get into a steadier routine. But she was actually already up-and-at-'em when I went to get her, which was great.

Here she is, showing off her new, sparkly tennis shoes I got her, hehe.

A close-up:

My girl isn't really a strong tennis-shoe type. So I figured a little glitz would make them more palatable for her ;)

And heeeere she is in her uniform. I die.

They have to wear uniform shirts--though they have options of polos or these fun, tutu-trimmed tops for girls. With the exception of when they're wearing the straight-up polos, they have some leeway with the bottoms. Personal flair and all ;)

Oh--and we also got her a dress uniform she'll wear tomorrow, which is fun.

I cannot stand how freaking old and tall she is in this picture. It's insane.

I mean, she kind of doesn't even look like my kiddo (partly because she rarely wears pants, ha). But she looked great, felt great, and we were on time for an easy breezy drop off.

I'd spoken with her quite a bit about how it was going to go, so we didn't linger during the drop off at the classroom (I'm a mental clinger, but not overly so in real life, hehe).

Chicklet did fairly well leaving Chica in the classroom, because she's kind of obsessed with this little play nook in the lobby that she thinks is all for her.

But...she was the only one of us to have a meltdown. And it happened when we actually had to leave the building and she knew sissy wasn't with us :(

Alas...I was prepared with a ring pop bribe to turn that frown upside down.

I'm not gonna lie--it was a weird morning with out Chica. Partly because we spent the majority of it in the car driving across town and back from Little Man's doctor's appointment. So it in no way represented what a normal day will look like for just the three of us, but at least it kept us sort of preoccupied.

Chica stayed just 2.5 hrs this first day, as there was no need to leave her there for hours on end, and I think the timing was just the perfect amount for her inaugural run.

When I came to pick her up, I was able to watch her on a security monitor while she was in a rec room, and she was doing absolutely great.

One of her teachers mentioned she had just one sad spell shortly after I left that was eased with some cuddles and reassurances that I was coming back. But otherwise, she was super-duper. And she even ran back to hug a new little friend before we left the room, which was melt-your-heart adorable.

Once we were on our way, she asked me why I was gone so long--but in a curious way, not an overly concerned way--and all of our discussions leading into Day 2 have been so positive. She knows I'll be gone, she knows I'll be back, and she knows she'll have fun.

But man oh man do I wish I could fast forward about a month until this is routine for all of us, 'cause this change us just hard! Especially coming off of a fun but tough summer and some other changes to routine 'round this casa.

But I know we'll get there. And I know I'm not the only Mama going through this, as I've run into many that are dealing with pre-k/kindergarten transitions. And we're all a little delicate!

But I have this one awesome advantage that I'm so grateful for. Chica's school has this awesome tadpole system that's set up to send us a couple pics throughout the day. And since they knew it was Chica's very first, they took a ton :)