And We Survived Day 1

Today was Butterfly's first offical day of preschool. She was excited, doing happy dances while getting ready this morning. I was nervous. What if she missed me? What if she didn't like it? What if she didn't get along with the other kids? What if she didn't have enough time to eat her snack (Butterfly is a slow eater)? For some reason, I allowed these thoughts to run through my mind last night and keep me awake. On the car ride over to the school, Butterfly tells me "I'm not going to miss you. I'm not going to be like LLama (from Llama Llama Misses Momma)." I don't know if I was ever so simultaneously proud and heartbroken. There was the "Yes! My child is independent! She wants to explore the world! We've done a good job!" sentiment running through my head. Which was quickly followed up by the "What do you mean you won't miss me? I'm your mom?!?" I allowed that one to stay around through drop off. Butterfly and I walked to her classroom. I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. No tears, just a bit of melancholy emotion. I helped her find her hook to hang her backpack. I watched her place her lunchbox on the shelf. She came and gave me a hug, and never looked back as she walked into the classroom. And thus began her life seperate from me. My husband was home with Ladybug, so thankfully I didn't have to worry about having 2 kids at drop off. While she was looking for her sister when I returned, Ladybug didn't seem to mind the one-on-one time she's now acquired with mom. We went for a walk, played outside, and had a snack. At pick up, Butterfly was all smiles coming out of her classroom. She was carrying a picture she'd painted of Clifford the Big Red Dog. Painting on the first day of class was sure to win my little artist over. I could tell school had tired her out. She was fuzzy and not forthcoming with the details of the day. Her voice was so quiet, I had to strain to hear her. But once home, a bit rested and after a yummy lunch, details of her day began to creep out. They sang songs, which she sang for us. They read a story about Clifford and in the story he tore up flowers. Butterfly and a classmate who has the same lunchbox had a bit of mix-up, but it was resolved. All in all, it sounded like a pretty good first day of school.

The End of the World as We Know It

I've been at home with the girls since Butterfly was born. We've led a pretty carefree existence, a routine versus a schedule, very few commitments, letting the weather dictate our plans once we had breakfast. Spending days outside, or reading, or pretending, or making art.

All that has changed as of this past Thursday. We had a major milestone in this house. My Purple Butterfly started pre-school! Two days a week we have to be out the door by a certain time to get her to class in time for 8:30. Of course, we haven't done that yet, because we got out the door in time for orientation in time for 9:00am. 8:30 is a bit more daunting. And here is my Purple Butterfly before her very first day of preschool.

The schedule adjustment is just the tip of the iceberg. Staring Tuesday, I'll be dropping Butterfly off and leaving her with her teachers and classmates. I'm very excited for her to start preschool. She needs all the things that preschool is for - time away from me, getting used to listening to a teacher, not being the major focus of the adult, and the part I'm most excited about her experiencing - socializing with other kids her age. I've tried with playdates, music classes, and trips to the park and library to help her socialize, but I really think she'll benefit from regularly being in class with other kids her age.

Things are going to change for Ladybug, too. She'll get some much needed one-on-one time with mom. We get very little time as just the two of us, maybe some time in the mornings. Now, we'll have 5 hours a week. It will be intereting to see how she handles her sister being out of the house, or not being with us in the mornings if we runs errands. According to Ladybug, there are places that Butterfly should be, because she always is. Now we're going to change that.

I wasn't overly emotional on Thursday. No tears, but lots of pride. Of course, we were there in the classroom with Butterfly. We'll see how we all feel Tuesday when Butterfly walks into the classroom by herself to join her classmates.