First Day of Pre-K

Today was a big day in our house.

Taylor had her first full day of Pre-K.

I woke up at around 7:30 and got dressed and put the dishes in the dishwasher (Kimberly was coming over to watch Liam and I didn't want the kitchen to be a disaster). At about 7:45 I went in to wake Taylor up and get her dressed. She did really well about being woke up. We got her clothes on and I fixed her hair. She was a little mad at me because she didn't have new shoes to wear, but she got over it and wore some white shoes that looked just fine! (I can only imagine what she is going to be like when she is a teenager if this is how she acts as a preschooler!) She did ask where her Daddy was and why he wasn't taking her for her first day of school too. I explained to her that Daddy didn't have much vacation time right now but he really wishes he could have been there. (This later broke Will's heart to know that she wanted him there!)

We picked out a blanket for her to sleep with at naptime and she picked out her soft puppy dog too. We went to the kitchen and got her lunch box all ready. She wanted macaroni and cheese, a banana, pudding, string cheese, cheeze-its, and chocolate milk. We got all that put in the lunch box and got her backpack put on just about the time that Kimberly got there. We went outside quickly and took a few pictures.

I thought she looked adorable!

Liam woke up right before we were leaving and he was glad to have Kimberly and Mason there to watch him.

Me and Taylor headed to her school. She talked the whole time and wanted to make sure that we weren't going to be late. We got to the school and I had to get a few more pictures of my little princess.

She finally told me that was enough and to stop taking pictures after that last one! :(

We went down to her room and when we got there we saw that one of her good friends Riley was already there playing. We put her backpack and lunch box up in her cubby and she ran over to Riley and started playing. She was a little timid at first but warmed up pretty quickly and was playing good. One of her babysitters, Sarah, was helping in the classroom and she was really happy to see her too.

We found out that the assistant teacher, Ms. Kim, was out today and just the new teacher, Ms. Robin, was there. I had a little meeting with the teacher and the other couple of parents that were there going over the forms we filled out and making sure that we didn't have any more questions. The teacher is new this year and she seemed very nervous and shy. She didn't talk very loudly and she stuttered her words around a lot. I hope she gets over that nervousness quickly so that she can be a good teacher to the kids! After the meeting was over I went over and told Taylor bye. She gave me a big hug and kiss and told me she loved me and then went back off to play. That made me leaving much easier. If she would have started crying I probably would have just scooped her back up in my arms and said let's go home baby girl! But she was ready to play and have a good day.

I went back home and me, Kimberly, Mason, and Liam went to get new tires put on the van. I am really glad that Kimberly came with us and we were able to leave the tire place because it took them a long time to get the new tires put on! We went to Walmart, Shoe Show, Big Lots, and McDonalds. It was after 2:00 by the time we got the van picked back up so me and Liam headed home and waited until 3:00 when we left to go pick Taylor back up.

I was a little confused as to where I was supposed to pick Taylor up, but I quickly realized that I was going to have to get out of the van and walk up to get her. I asked her teacher if she had a good day and she said yes, but that she didn't take a nap. This didn't surprise me at all because Taylor doesn't take a nap at home.

On the way to the car I asked Taylor how her day went and she said, "It was boring." I asked her if she did anything fun and she said no. She also told me that they didn't let her finish her lunch. I said, "They didn't let you finish your lunch?" She said, "Yeah, I didn't even get to eat my macaroni." I was very surprised so I looked in her lunch box and sure enough, everything was gone except a few cheeze-its and her full thermos of macaroni. I was not too happy about this and started thinking that someone should have been watching her better and making sure she didn't just eat the snacks that were in her lunch box!

She told me that she almost started crying when it was naptime because she really just wanted to go home and see me. She said she didn't like just laying on her cot. She said they didn't give her her blanket or her doggy and that the Kindergarden class was being loud out on the playground. This about made me cry, but I held it together!

By the time we got home Liam had fallen asleep so I carried him to the couch and he stayed asleep. This gave me and Taylor some time to cuddle and talk some more about her day. I had bought her some new shoes at Walmart (Princess light-up shoes on sale for $7.87, whoo hoo!) so I showed her those and she tried them on. That made her day a little better. Then she wanted to watch some TV.

After supper we went outside to play some and ended up going down to Sarah and Rebecca's house. We met some of the neighbors that we hadn't met before and Taylor and Liam ended up having a ball playing on the trampoline and the playset. I even saw Taylor doing flips out on the trampoline!! (oh my!)

I talked to Sarah and asked her how Taylor did since she was in there part of the day. She said she did really good and the girls played really well together. I ended up telling her what Taylor said about not getting to finish her lunch. Sarah said that when it was snack time they brought out the little fruit cups for them and Taylor said, "Wait, I have a snack in my lunch box!" Sarah said that she ran to her cubby, got out her lunch box and started pulling out pudding, string cheese, a banana, and her thermos. Sarah asked her what was in the thermos and she said, "I think macaroni." It finally clicked. Sarah said they all ate a school lunch during lunch time (I didn't not pay for Taylor to have a school lunch, so I am not sure how that happended). I asked Taylor if she ate a taco for lunch and she said yes. So Taylor ate her lunch for snack. Except she didn't eat her macaroni because it wasn't lunch time and they told her she didn't need to eat that for snack. So that is why she said they didn't let her finish her lunch.

Sarah said the new teacher was very confused about breakfast and lunch and snacktime. She said that Ms. Kim usually takes care of the meals and that the new teacher just didn't know what was going on. She must not even have given Taylor a choice at lunch and just got her a lunch from the cafeteria. I know I told her that I brought Taylor's lunch that morning when I was there, but oh well. It makes more sense now. Hopefully Ms. Kim will be back on Monday and it will all run a little smoother.

So Taylor did good on her first day other than being a little bored at times. I think since there were only 4 of them there that day that there just wasn't much to do and the teacher didn't really have a plan for what to do so it was boring.

I was a little concerned at how I would do sending Taylor to a big school for the first time. I was a little sad that she was going. Sad that she isn't a baby anymore and that she doesn't need me all the time. Sad that if someone pushes her down or makes fun of her that I won't be there to make it better. Sad that I feel like I have missed out on the last 2 years of her life because I have been in school and have not been able to be with her everyday like I wanted to be.

I feel like I missed out on so many opportunities to just be with her and play with her and watch her grow because of school. And now all of a sudden she is going to be in school 5 days a week for the rest of her little kid life and I am going to miss so much. I am really going to miss having her at home. I sit here and cry as I write this because I just feel like I am going to miss out on hearing her sweet little laugh and miss out seeing her tumble around my living room and miss seeing her play with her brother all day. I know that I will still see her in the evenings and on the weekends, but it just won't quite be the same. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had a job to go to, but to just come home to a more quiet house is going to be torture for a little bit.

I am so happy that she is going to be learning and making new friends and spreading her little wings and growing, but sometimes I just want to hold that sweet little precious girl who made me a Mommy and hug her and kiss her and never let her go. I feel like it was just yesterday sometimes that I would hold that sweet little infant girl, the most beautiful little girl in the world, in my arms. And other days it feels like it was a lifetime ago and I can't hardly remember her when she was little.

Where have the last 4 1/2 years gone sweet little girl?

So many emotions today, but mostly I am happy so I am going to dwell on that and not on all that sadness!! I know she is going to be fine. I know she is going to have fun. And most of all I know that God is going to protect her and keep her safe.