First day of school (sniff…)
pamelamyers | September 11, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013 was a very big day for our Samantha. It was her first day of preschool. Sam started school 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Christian Nursery School. We chose the school for a lot of reasons, mostly because it came very highly recommended by a lot of people I asked but also, because it is so close to our house, 0.3 miles to be exact. We thought being only a few blocks away would be nice since sometimes we could walk back and forth.
Sam was very hesitant for a long time about going to school, but she was pretty used to the idea by the time the actual day arrived. I talked to her a bit on Sunday about how she had school the next day and she understood. When it came time for her to get dressed Monday she started stalling, wanting to have a tea party and goofing around. Eventually though, she got dressed without a fuss. Here she is, in an outfit of her choosing, all ready to go.
In all of these pictures you can see a locket that I made for her that has my picture on one side and Mark’s on the other. It was my mom’s idea, that perhaps if she could look at our pictures it would make Sam feel less lonely and sad. Sam really loved the idea and was very excited to get her necklace. The pictures can be seen without her opening anything, she only has to look at it, which is perfect.
Mark took the day off to come with Sam and me. Monday was really only an orientation day, an hour, and we never left. We only separated from Sam for about 20 minutes. There was so much information given to the parents and Sam really seemed to like the idea that both her mom and dad were there, so I am glad he took off. There are so few dads at these things. Sam is luckier than she knows that she has a dad who actually wants to go to her events.
Ok, maybe she knows.
Me and my “baby”. It is hard to believe that I am losing some of our girl time on Mondays and Fridays!
We arrived at school in plenty of time to walk around and take some more pictures!
The school is actually part of a Lutheran church. These pictures were out front of the church. Sam loved the flowers and insisted we take pictures there.
In her hand you can see a little plastic bunny figurine that she insisted on bringing with her. I didn’t really want her bringing anything, but she seemed comforted by it so I let it go. I was afraid she’d put it down and lose it, but she managed to hang on to it the whole time.
We peeked inside the church and I told Sam to look backwards at Daddy and wave. I love the saucy wave and foot action!
After a bit, it was high time to get moving toward her class. She wanted to walk with her Dad.
While we waited outside I showed her the sign and told her what it said, “A place for friendship and learning” which is exactly what I hope she gets out of it.
Sam liked the welcome sign in the shape of a heart.
Once we went in we picked up the orientation packet and her tote bag, which she is supposed to bring every day, and we headed up to her classroom. Sam had seen it once before when we took a brief tour of the school, but we didn’t get to walk around much since school was in session. She seemed really excited to be there and see everything they had.
Here are some pictures of Sam’s first look at her classroom. This is Mrs. McCann, her teacher. There is also an assistant, Mrs. Curran. They have a big kitchen set, which I knew Sam would like.
Boy, was she excited to see a big, stuffed Clifford! You can see her tote bag in her hand…more on that later. The train set was one of the first things she saw when we went into the room. She loves trains, and oddly, it is one thing we have never bought her. I don’t know why when she likes them so much.
She is never that interested in dolls at home, but she seemed to like the baby doll things in the room.
Since we were up there pretty early, I managed to get a few good shots of the empty classroom. Here is one side…
…and here is the other.
Each child has their own hook and cubby. Sam’s hook is below. She is lucky number 13 of 18 students in her class (the only redhead too!)
It came time for us to separate from her for the parents meeting with the director and we told Sam we would be right back. Later, when we re-joined her, she seemed so upset. She clung to me so tightly and it looked like she had been crying. In the car, Mark and I asked her if she cried and she said no, but she had the boo boo lip and her face was sad. We asked her if anyone in her class had cried and she again said no, and we knew that wasn’t true since her teacher told the waiting parents there had been a few tears, although she didn’t say from which child. It wasn’t hard for us to figure out that Sam was one of those with tears.
We tried to ask her about her experience but all we could get out of her was that she didn’t eat the snack (not surprising) and that she drew a picture, and that, “the lady said we would play on the playground if it wasn’t raining, but we didn’t….”
Here is her very first preschool picture!
Before she even went to school I promised her that she could have ice cream after so we did just that. After a while we went to King of Prussia Mall to relax and shop and have dinner, and lucky Sam had MORE ice cream. Hey, it was a rough day, she deserved it!
As to her tote bag, the school encouraged us to help our child personalize it with either paint, markers, or whatever they wanted to do. Sam LOVED that idea. Before she even had ice cream she wanted to decorate it. We got her markers and she wanted to draw then I remembered I had some iron-on patches she could use. Sam had never seen patches before and when I explained to her what they were she couldn’t wait to use every single one I had. She told me exactly where they had to go, and I marked the outlines with a pencil and ironed them on while she ate ice cream and watched tv. Here is her bag. She is so proud of it.
The next day, Tuesday, while I was putting Sam to bed she somewhat randomly told me, in a sad kind of voice, “Mommy, I cried at school.” I asked her why and she said, “Because I missed you. I missed Daddy too.” I asked her what her teacher did and she said she didn’t do anything (which I don’t believe) but they read a book, and she sat on a cat place mat, which I take to be something to do with circle time. She also told me that a little girl said she missed her mommy too which I found very sweet. It is nice to know that another little girl was trying to comfort her. I asked her if she cried the whole time or just some of the time and she said, “I cried a lot.” Oh boy. I tried to narrow down how much she may have cried so I asked her, “Before or after you drew your picture,” and she said, “I cried while I was drawing my picture.” Yeah, this does not surprise me. I tried to comfort her about it the best I could and she fell asleep while I laid next to her hoping the next time at school would be easier.
So, that brings us to today, her first “real” day of school. She seemed ok when I told her it was time to go, talking about how everyone can’t wait to see her tote bag, just holding my hand, but she got more clingy while waiting in the lobby for the teacher to open the door to the stairwell that leads to her classroom. By the time it was her turn to go in, it looked like Niagara Falls was coming and her face was crushed.
I left, because what was I going to do, and hoped she was ok. When I went to pick her up I arrived a bit early and figured I’d just sit in the car for a while. I could just see into one corner of her school playground and so I sat there willing her to run by so I could see her, willing her to look happy, and I was rewarded. After a few minutes, I saw her little orange head run by, all smiles, in a line with a bunch of other kids. Each time I would see her zoom by, playing the way a little girl should, I felt more relieved. My heart was light. My girl is happy. And when I finally was reunited with her and asked, “Did you have fun?” her answer was, thankfully, an unequivocal, “YES!” That is all I got out of her – it was like pulling teeth. You’d think she was already a teenager…