First Day of Preschool

Abby officially began her many, many years of schooling journey today. Yep, today was her very first day of preschool. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast! Last week we went to her preschool's open house where Abby and I got to meet her teachers (Miss Jeanette and Miss Christy) and got taste of what preschool would be like. There was only one rough spot that occurred as I was leaving to go the parent conference portion of the open house and Abby was staying behind to do a project with her teachers. Abby begged me to "hold me" and I made the mistake of picking her up and giving her a big hug and so when it came time to hand her over to her teachers I had to pass off a crying baby. But I know my girl (and the teachers confirmed afterward) and after a quick two minutes she was happily playing again.

My baby and I waiting to meet her teachers.

Fast forward a week and the big official day was here. We started the morning off in a little bit of a rush because Abby decided that this would be the day of all days to sleep in until 8 am instead of waking up at her normal 7:15 am. Since we needed to start moving to the car to leave at 8:30 am I had to get Abby up, showered, dressed, and have her hair done, get her to eat breakfast, put together her back pack, and, of course, take the obligatory first day of school pictures all in thirty minutes. I was really impressed with how we were able to get everything accomplished without feeling too rushed or having any meltdowns.

I was a little nervous about how her "first day of school" pictures would go because we had a previous photo session with her holding a piece of paper that didn't go well. I mean she and the paper were both in the photo but the paper was either over her face, upside-down, backwards, or in a mess of other spots besides where I wanted it to be. So I figured we'd calmly take a bunch of pictures and the best one we got would have to do. To my surprise the very first shot was EXACTLY what I wanted. :-)

Nailed it!

And a close-up of the previous picture because I love it so much. I especially love that she's actually smiling in this picture. It's not her big nose-wrinkled grin, but since she normally stares stoically into the camera this upturned mouth smile is pretty darn awesome.

Pointing out the letters on the sign to me.

"Are we done yet?"

When we got to school Abby's Grandma (my Mom) was waiting there for us. It's become a tradition that Grandma goes to the first day of school to take pictures of her Grandkids. She started this with Haylee and I'm happy to see that she's continuing it with Abby.

Abby with her adorable backpack walking to school. She goes to Bethel Church's Kids Express Pre-School.

Once inside we waited a few minutes in the hallway for Abby's teachers to open the classroom door. The preschool has a "drop and dash" policy (kids are dropped off at the door instead of in their classroom) so I knew it would be a quick transition into her room and I wouldn't be able to take lots of pictures or spend extra time with her if she needed it. I needn't have worried.

Abby waiting outside her classroom door.

When the door to her classroom opened Abby did a repeat of last week and asked me to "hold me", but this time I figured that picking her up would cause problems so I instead knelt down to give her a big hug and told her how much fun she was going to have at preschool. Then I took her hand and we walked to the door where she dashed inside with nary a good-bye. I turned to walk away but my Mom said we should stay just out of sight in case Abby ended up crying and needing us. Mom watched Abby through the door window and laughed when she saw Abby walk up to a girl who was crying, pat her on the back a few times, then walk away to continue playing as if saying "There, there no need to cry. Let's play!" And with that my Mom proclaimed "Well, she doesn't give a rat's ass if we're here or not, does she." Yep, that pretty much sums up how much Abby was enjoying the start of her preschool day. :-) Here's to many more years of the joy of learning!