Peyton's First Day of Preschool

I was a little worried, to begin with, about how Peyton would do with her first day of preschool, and I grew even more concerned when she was wide awake at 4:30 this morning!  She hasn't done that since we all adjusted to the time zone after getting back from China.  When I heard her walking down the hallway, crying, and looked at the clock to see the time, I was just sure we were in for quite the day!  As soon as I picked her up, she was smiling and happy like it was time to start the day!  Oh boy!

We had a snack and watched a little tv, and then I told her it was time for night night - she signed sleep and bed, and I took her back to bed.  It took her a while, but she fell back asleep.  I got her out of bed a few minutes after 7, praying she would have a good day.  She was in a great mood and ate a bowl of cereal, but she was really snuggly, so she fought putting her clothes on, but not too bad.  Then, we finished packing her backpack, and we were out the door before 8:00.

Peyton signing potty before we left - notice how she insisted on taking my hairspray and a thing of hand sanitizer with her?  Funny girl!  I didn't let her take the hairspray inside though.

Smiling in her car seat on our way to the school because mommy agreed to sit in the back seat with her.

Waiting to be let in - turns out that the locks wouldn't work, so Miss Shannon, her teacher, met us outside, and we went into the library.

Walking Peyton to see what the OT was bringing out of her bag of goodies - the ball lit up, but she didn't want to touch it

Joining circle time!  Before this, she strung some farm animals on a string - Here, she is interested in the dry erase board and markers.

After she was doing well in the circle with the other kids for a few minutes, I saw her look up to make sure I was still there, and then she came over to me with a smile on her face and wanted a hug.  I hugged her and put her back down.  She re-joined the circle, and then, Miss Shannon went to the circle and sat beside her.  I got down on her level and went to say goodbye - by this time, I already had tears in my eyes just thinking about leaving her, but I knew she was in good hands.  She reached for me and told me, "potty," but it was a diversionary tactic, and I told her she had to stay.  Then, she reached up for Darren and told him, "potty."  Darren picked her up and gave her a hug and put her back down.  I hugged her again and told her I loved her, and then Miss Shannon put her on her lap.  She started crying, which made me cry, but I waved bye bye to her, blew kisses, and signed to her that I loved her, and then we left.  Ugh!  That was hard!

A few minutes after we got home, Miss Shannon called to say Peyton didn't cry for very long and that she was interacting with the rest of the class.  What a relief!  That made me feel so much better.  I know this will be good for her and for me, but I sure do miss her!  I go back in about an hour to pick her up, and we'll go to lunch.  I hope she has a good time!  One of the things that makes me the most sad right now is that she won't be able to tell me what she did.  ~tears~  I love my baby!