First Day of Preschool

Today was Alyce's first day of preschool.  Today she is taking the second step towards going to school on a full time basis.  Last year she attended Kids Day Out, a structured play environment that was to socialize Alyce, quash any separation anxiety, and give mom some time off.  Alyce is now going to preschool supplied by our public school system in the same school she will attend when she reaches kindergarten.  She attends school 3 days a week for 3 hours each day.  During that time the kids have free play, structured activities, time on the playground, and a snack.

School starts at 8:15 so our usual slow to rise morning routine has been usurped with a structured routine where we move Alyce from eating, dressing, and to grooming without any stops for toys or cartoons.  We didn't have any problems this morning with Alyce and her new schedule but I think she was way excited with going to her "new school" to give us any grief.  We've been building up preschool for the last few weeks and since orientation last Friday it has been at a feverish pitch.

Before we left for school we had to take the traditional first day of school picture. Comparing last year's picture to this year it is easy to see that our little girl has grown a few inches and grown out of her baby fat.

Dropping Alyce off at school was a complete nonevent.  The one thing Alyce wanted to do the most at school was to hang up her backpack on her hook.  Every kid has their own little locker with their name on it and they have a hook for coats and backpacks and a shelf for paperwork for Mom and I.  I'm not sure why she was so focused upon hanging up her stuff but she had been talking about it for days and was pleased when she finally did it.

After a quick hand washing (required of all kids and a brilliant idea) Alyce was off to play with a big pile of Play Doh.  At this time Mom and I said goodbye, gave a hug to Alyce, and left.  As we were walking out the door Alyce went back to playing as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.  So much for separation anxiety.

3 hours later Mom, Luke, and I were back to pick her up.  The parents all have to wait outside of the classroom for the kids to be released. After a minute out comes a slow trickle of kids with Alyce being somewhere in the middle.  She seemed happy to see us but I think she was a bit preoccupied.  She was preoccupied with the picture of a purple dragon that she had colored in class.  She told us that she colored it for Mommy which was sweet enough to melt your heart.  Talking to her teachers Miss Mary and Miss Kit about what she did in class totally surprised Mom and I.  They told us that Alyce enjoyed the finger paints the most.  When I think of my little girl, the one who doesn't like to get her hands dirty, the very thought of finger paints would make me say "yeah right".  But enjoy it she did, so much that she asked me later if she could play with the finger paints next time she goes to school.

After school, during lunch, we asked her all sorts of questions about her day.  The playground must be pretty cool because Alyce said they have a twisty slide that goes around and around.  Alyce played with some sand and the sand table, painted some pictures with finger paints and markers, played with some Play Doh, ate pretzels, and drank some chocolate milk.  In the eyes of a three year old I'd say that is the makings of a perfect day.