School Bound

Well, we have reached and conquered a major milestone!  Matine has successfully completed her first 2 days of "preschool" at Montessori Island School with great enthusiasm and success.

It went a little something like this:
-  We get the call that her name finally came up on the waiting list and that she can start attending anytime.
-  Peter and I go visit the school, with Matine, to check it out, get the paperwork and make sure it's a good fit.
- While we were there for our "visit" before we have even given them a check Matine walks into each classroom, trying to sit down, declares to us and everyone that "this is my school" and "these are my friends."  She even ran and got in the single file line with the older kids on the playground when the bell rang.   As she stood in line for the class that she wasn't even in she waves at us and says, "by mom and dad, see you later, I have to go back to school!"

So, we wait an entire WEEK (this felt like an eternity to her) until her first day of school (yesterday).
- The night before we pick out and hang up her school outfit (this is required given her intense "preferences" for her ensembles each day... without prior night coordination I was terrified we might have WW3 on our hands in the morning).  We packed her backpack with her "indoor shoes" that she will wear while at school, her extra changes of clothes, diapers, and wipes.
- Morning of she awoke well rested, requesting "german pancakes" (of course) and got dressed "all by herself".  She has now mastered getting ALL her clothes on, shoes, jacket, and one glove.  She is so determined to get everything by herself.  Really helpful and cute, I must admit.

Day one of school:
- I take pictures of her at our house all dressed up and we talk about the manners we are going to use, I remind her of  her teachers names and tell her to be nice to her friends and share.
- We arrive at school, she SHRIEKS as we pull in the parking lot and exclaims, "this is my school!!!!!!!!"
- As we stand in front of the school I ask her to stop and take her picture and she says, "no pictures mom, I want to go inside!"
- She walks in like she owns the place, heads straight to her room and we find the teacher, Miss Chelsea and see that they have made a cubby for her jacket and belongings.  She is very excited to hang up her things.
- As we put on our "inside shoes" she can hardly sit still.  She smiles at Miss Chelsea as she greets her and then Sully pops his head out of the classroom and giggles at Matine, she giggles back and she looks at me and says, "bye mom, you have to go to work now."

And that was it.  Sully put his hand on her back and led her into the classroom (which they tell me he did all day) and I watched as she sat right down with her friends and started playing at the table.  I hear she calls Sully, "her boy" to all the teachers and other friends in class.

When I came back at 12:30 she had eaten her lunch and protested leaving.

She loves it.  She was totally wiped out and took a nice long nap when we got home, but was eager and excited to go the next day.

On day Two, she started telling me BEFORE we even parked the car "mom, don't take my picture."  I am ALREADY embarrassing my child.  I think she might start asking me to drop her off 3 blocks away from school by next week.   As we were putting on her shoes and hanging up coats three kids walked by and said, "hi Matine, hi Teen, Hi Matine."  And of course, she smiled, waved and said hi back...

Miss Chelsea

On day two I went 30 minutes early to peek in and see what lunch time was like.  She was scarfing down her mac and cheese, carrots and oranges and apparently she had eaten FOUR carrots earlier in the day.   When she is at home she chews them up and then spits them out in corners....

I guess little Miss Social was ready for school and this next phase of her life.  I am so happy there were no "transition" problems... at least, there are none on HER end!  Momma needs a little counseling after all this, but the kid is fine.  Just fine.