On the first day of preschool, my baby gave to me...

lots and lots of tears! Poor baby! So today was Madison's first real day of preschool...all day long. Gordon went into work late so we could both drop her off in the morning. We were all sort of expecting to take her to her classroom with her teacher, but apparently that early in the morning, all the kids gather in the breakfast room where they can eat breakfast and then lay on the couches/floor and watch TV when finished eating. Then at 8am, her teacher comes to get all of her class from that big room and takes them to their classroom. Well, none of us were prepared for that! We went in her classroom, put her stuff in her cubby and she was just happy as a clam and went to play with the toys. Then we had to take her across the hall to the big room and she wanted NOTHING to do with that! She was crying and saying "I no want to stay!". She was just frantic! Then Miss Rebecca, the director, came in and was trying to coax Madison to stay, but she was having none of it. After about 10 minutes (or maybe less than that...seemed like an eternity to me!), we finally just had to hug her, tell her we loved her and walk away. The director was holding Madison and the poor thing was screaming and crying like I've NEVER seen her do, and she was trying desperately to climb out of Rebecca's arms! She was just reaching out for us like, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME?!" ugh...the tears were flowing....MINE, not just dd's!!!! Gordon and I just had to walk away and give her time to adjust. I was totally crying by the time we got to the front door down the hall! Oh, how sad was that?! Gordon said, "well, get ready for this EVERY day!". :( Rebecca said (through Madison's cries/howls), "call as many times as you need to!" as we were leaving. I called around 8am (it was about 7:30 when we dropped her off) and she said Madison was doing better, that Miss Sierra came to hold Madison and took her down to see the babies, which is the classroom she normally works in. She said that Madison stopped crying by the time we got to the door (it has an audible door alarm, so they'll know if a kid is trying to get out or something, so she could hear when we left), but she was still sort of upset. By the time I called back around 9:15, she said Madison was doing fine and was in her classroom with Miss Jaime, her normal teacher. They were doing circle time and singing so she was fine. I called back again around 10:30 and she was doing fine and they were doing their Spanish lesson. I was sure that once she got in her classroom with her teacher, whom she had met before, she would be fine because she was so eager to play in there.

I think that the morning transition is going to be the hardest for her, not just because we're leaving, but moreso because she isn't used to this big room with someone who is not her teacher.

I didn't call back after lunch, as I had planned because I'm sure she was fine after she got to go back to her class.

That day, I had my 32 week checkup, so of course I was in and out in 5 minutes. since my apoointment was at 3, and I had to leave work early to get there, I was able to pick up Madison early. I went to get her at about 3:30 and I just stood in the hallway watching her in the 2 way mirror/window thing. She was playing happily then I walked in and her back was to me. I called her name and she perked up and turned around and said, "Mommy?!" so I expected her to come running. Nope. She said, "Mommy you wait a minute. I busy" and she was cleaning up, putting her pieces back in the container, then put it on the shelf where it belonged, THEN came running. Part of me was proud of her for being so independent and for putting her toys away all on her own, but a part of me was a little sad that she didnt just drop everything and come running! lol

She seemed to be so happy and really enjoyed it. I'm so glad she is so happy there. I knew she'd love it...now if she could just get past that whole morning transition! lol

I do love the center though, because it's pretty small...there are only about 8-9 kiddos in her class, the center itself isn't just crazy busy (I visited some centers that made ME feel overwhelmed and like I was in a zoo!!!!), but very calm. The director is very nice, friendly and easy to talk to. I spent about a half hour in the office talking to her before we left (she's due in a few weeks and told me her baby was already 8lb4oz!!! oh, my!). She even gave Madison a sucker, so Madison now has a friend for life bc suckers are like gold to her! I took a picture, of course, and Madison was letting Miss Rebecca hold her...sucker and all!





We wanted to do something special for Madison since it was her first day of "school", so Gordon came to pick us up at my mom's house (bc I went there after picking up madison to get the rest of our laundry), and we took her to chuck e cheese. She had such a great time and was so excited! She fell asleep on the way home around 7pm, and she was just exhausted so we sort of quickly changed her into her jammies, in her bed, really quietly and put her in bed for the night. I was sort of worried she'd wake up after a few hours, bc her normal bedtime is 8pm, and if she goes to sleep earlier than that, she always wakes up around 10-11 or so. But she slept all night and I even had to wake her up at 6am the morning!!!