First Day of School

I have been telling H for several days that she was going to start school today. Her response, standard for all “Doesn’t that sound fun?” questions, was, “No.”

“Tomorrow we’re going to get up, and you’re going to school. Won’t that be fun?” I ask.

“No,” H tells me.

Sigh.

 As I mentioned, this is a standard response to every assertion I make of this kind, so I didn’t take it to heart. Every time we had visited her school she loved it. For a cuddly, kind of clingy kid, she really has zero problem with babysitters, so I wasn’t too worried about a crying scene when I dropped her off. What worried me were the panties.

I filled her bumble bee back pack with two extra pairs of panties, a complete extra outfit, an emergency set of shorts in case of more than one accident, and an extra pair of shoes. If she was going to be the kid who peed herself, at least Mom would be prepared for it.

Her school is great about potty training. They were totally willing to do cloth diapers, and when we decided to potty train, they were totally ok with panties and cleaning up accidents. Her teacher has a reputation as the potty training queen.

Thankfully it was raining buckets this morning. ‘Cause that makes transporting a toddler so much easier. Our car was parked outside because of our ongoing furniture project (to be blogged about if we ever finish), and the umbrella was inside the car. We arrived damp, but in one piece. True to form, I dropped her off with only a concerned look.

When I came back to pick her up, she was thrilled to see me, but no crying. And there were a couple of criers in the class. What surprised me was that she was in her original outfit. She was dry, and she hadn’t gone yet. The moms joined in for snack time and afterward I took her into the school potty, where she was quite intrigued that the toilet came with a little seat for her. Everything went smoothly, and we left with smiles and waves to her teachers.

The potty aspect of the day was certainly a major concern after the past few days. But what surprised me was that my mom is going to get an “I told you so” out of H’s first day. I’ve left her with babysitters plenty of times. While Josh was gone at the beginning of the year she had a regular babysitter every week. Today was only one hour instead of three to help the kiddos get used to the setting. Despite all that, when I walked out of that room I had such Mommy-pangs. I couldn’t believe that I was leaving her at school. It may be pre-pre-school. She may be spending most of the day playing and coloring, but it’s still school. How could my sweet baby be so big already?