She was SO excited for this party especially because she knew I was coming. Talked about it for days ahead of it.
It was last Thursday--I was able to take her to school with nanny and my son then head off to chapel. They call it chapel but it is in a progressive kind of church with chairs/stage/lighting/big screens.
They've done this for years now so it is a pretty organized event. Once doors open everyone rushes in to get closest to the front. We made our way in and as we were walking to front a lady sat down and 'claimed' the whole row I was walking up to--like 12 seats! It felt rude to me but nanny said she's done it before. Who knew?
We sat down and had a little while to wait so my son was getting pretty antsy. They had blankets all lined along the very front below the stage and each class was assigned to one.
They finally started filing in--little ones first and progressively bigger. I spotted her teacher and got so dang excited. I became THAT parent ready to wave wildly to my child. As soon as I spotted her I couldn't believe what happened. I had this enormous ball of emotion come bursting out of me and I just started crying. And crying. And...crying. I was so unprepared for my reaction I didn't even bring tissue-had to get one from nanny.
When I saw her I just a)beamed with pride b) saw how much of a big girl she was following along in a line c) seeing her face light up when she saw me. Oh brings tears to my eyes reliving it right now. Wiping them away now.
I didn't realize how big the school was until they had all the kids go--younger twos, older twos, 3's etc. many many classes.
They brought one group on stage while the next group waited on the ramp and they had a singer perform in the transition spots. Very smooth.
Finally it was her turn and the whole class-15 maybe-lined the stage. They did a surfing song and I was so proud--most of the kids just stood there but she rocked it--did all the steps and did her 'freestyle' as she called it. I didn't practice once with her.
I'm also realizing that trying to capture all these moments on video takes away from actually living the moment as it happens. This was the first program she's ever been in so I spent a lot of time making sure the camera was focused, not wobbly, not too far out, etc. and by the time I did all that they were done!
There were a few classes after hers so I spent most of the rest of the time in the hall with my son who wanted nothing to do with sitting down anymore.
When they were all finished we went back to her classroom where they had an ice cream party. She got a super neat book that had pictures of her throughout her time Jan-may. These events are also kind of interesting because the parents sort of focus on their kid and none of the parents really interacted much. Kind of like 3 year olds do sometimes-play next to but not with.
We didn't stay long after that but we at least got a pic of my girl with her teacher.
What was also a great part of the day was we had mommy and my girl lunch afterwards. Nanny and my son were going to go but he continued to melt down so we dropped them off at home. We got to the restaurant and I asked her what her favorite part about the program was? Do you know what she said?
She said her favorite part was that I came to her party. And that I was so proud.
Melt my heart into a thousand pieces!! The fact that she could articulate that and I knew she really meant it. Just can't explain how much I welled up inside.
It also made me think that this is the exact reason I will ALWAYS strive to be there for her--a school event, a program, sports, whatever it is. She is three and a half and can already tell me how much it means to her. Means so much to me too.
Overall we had just the most delightful time together. Such a positive, nice, no fussy, real connection time.
I jut loved it.
Overall school WAS the right decision for us. She's learning things constantly and starting to learn about friendships. I'm starting to learn that I can't keep other kids from hurting her feelings and that's hard. I wanted to tell little Leah a thing or two when my girl said Leah didn't want to play with her. Umm what!?
I didn't meet any other moms to have play dates with but think that's mainly due to me not dropping off/picking up.
The teacher said my girl blossomed throughout time there and was a very sweet girl. They normally have conferences but they were cancelled due getting a few days back for other weather cancellations.
They do a report card of sorts and shows what they know in preparation to read, etc. she needs to work on lower case letters and number recognition. Fine by me.
It was not a super easy transition because at the beginning, and even now really, she says she misses me 'all day'. But also has said she loves school and her favorite thing to do now is play school at home. She is usually the teacher, of course and she is usually sending me to the behavior chart!
Looking forward to next year at the 4 year old class. We are staying at this preschool and she will go mon-thurs and stay 2 afternoons tue and wed. She's going to take a 'cooking' and gardening class. She also got assigned to the teacher her current teacher suggested. Seems all a go. Now just have to help my girl understand that school is out for the summer. For some reason she's super focused on her birthday so we will distract her with that.
And I continue to capture some of the hilarious things she says--things to make me outright laugh.
--my son was running in our cul de sac and I asked him to stop. He didn't of course and she says, 'he doesn't listen very well' I said no he doesn't.
She says, 'I think we need to buy a new one'! Then the next day in the morning after he had given us both a lot of kisses she says, 'I thought we needed a new one but he's so nice'!
--I had gotten her some new play shorts and they just weren't fitting her right. I said these shorts suck and she says 'yeah like babies suck nunies'?
Yes babe, kind like that.
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