"I love school!"

I got rolling a little late today (BJ would say, "as usual") but managed to get my girlies dressed and fed, and get Mary Grace to her first day of school on time. It helped that we had chosen her outfit the night before.

Before we left the house, she said, "Mommy, I'm scared." "Of what, honey?" I said. "Of my school!" I reassured her that she'd only be there for a little while, and that I knew she would love it and have a good time, and that was the last I heard about that.



At this point I whispered to BJ, "You should put her down!" After all, she's a big girl, and I didn't want her to get teased. Let's face it. Preschool can be brutal. I think he thought I was overprotecting, but he did put her down to pose for another photo:

The sun was right in her eyes, so she doesn't look real happy, but she was.

We went inside and found her cubby...

...and her classroom. As you can see, she saw the computer, made a beeline, and completely ignored me. So I snapped the picture and left.

Right now she's singing the songs she learned at school as I'm writing this. She made a project which I dutifully labelled with the date and "First thing Mary Grace ever brought home from school," before I stuck it to the fridge.

I did ok, until we picked her up. I looked through the window into the classroom before they dismissed, and I didn't see her! She looked so grown up, sitting there with all the other kids. It just overwhelmed me. And when she came out, all smiles and excitement, I clouded up a little because I realized that she didn't miss me at all. Even though I know that it was as it should be, it still stung a little.

Mah baybee is growin up!!!

The other parents were kind of interesting. At drop-off, there was a little girl playing with that plastic house you see on the table. She was totally ignoring her mom, but her mom was all, "I will stay for two more minutes, okay? I'm staying, don't worry, I'm right here..." I wanted to say, "She's fine, Sister, get while the gettin's good!" but, well, you know... I was still there, too (being ignored by my own kid). Then at pick up, there was a little boy whose Dad bent down for a hug, and the kid knocked him backwards (or he fell backwards, couldn't tell) and they rolled around on the floor in a big bear hug for about 3 minutes. It was kind of sweet and kind of dysfunctional all at the same time. I felt like the dad was putting on a big show of it. I wanted to say, "Hey, Dude, it's only been 2 and a half hours," but then I got all misty eyed, so I decided not to be judgie on the first day.

Anyway, the most important thing is that when I said, "So, what did you think of school?" she said, without hesitation, "I love school!" so the day was a smashing success. We had lunch at her favorite restaurant with Daddy, Grandpa Bob, and Grandma Diana. Poor Claire, though, she was kind of lost without her big sis. While MG was at school, Claire and I went to the park for a little bit. It was awfully strange to have her all to myself. She kept looking around for MG. Poor midget, didn't know what to do without Sis! She'll learn. We all will.

Ok, gotta run before they kill each other!