Today was Ellie’s first day of preschool.  She will be attending two mornings a week in our church, just two floors below Wes’s office.  For the first day, the school policy is for the students to attend for half of the normal time with only half of the class.  This provides for a nice transition into the program.  

 

Ellie seemed to do just fine.  She was upset just before I left, but not for the obvious reason.  She was not upset because I was leaving, rather, she was upset because I hung her bag (which contained her all-important lunch box) outside of the classroom.  I think she was convinced that she was going to go hungry; she could have cared less if I was leaving her there as long as she knew she was going to be fed.  

 

At the parent orientation earlier in the week, the Director of the preschool offered a special word to the toddler parents. To my surprise, her wise words were not something practical, but rather emotional. She said that the hardest part for toddler parents is that we have to adjust to the fact that we will no longer be able to be a part of or account for every minute of our child’s day.  In fact, it is impossible for the teachers to summarize an entire morning for each parent and it will be a long time before Ellie will be able to communicate to us the activities in her day.  That definitely was a helpful assessment as I continue to adjust to Ellie’s growing independence.  My first experience with this was that she came home today with sand all over her feet.  Although the obvious conclusion is that a toddler running around the playground in sandals is bound to get sand on her feet, but I found myself longing for more information as if to connect a little more to Ellie’s experience...Did they do a sand activity?  Did Ellie take her shoes off to play?  Isn’t the playground covered in mulch?  

Indeed, much of her day will remain a mystery to me.  It’s a healthy step, right?

 

I’m eager to see how the next few weeks play out for Ellie, and for me.  

 

Other pictures showing her first day of school silliness: