Pre-K

Yesterday was Jolee's 1st day of Pre-K and she loved it! I tell ya, sending your baby of to school is hard. She asked us if Mommy, Daddy and Brennan could all take her to school on the first day (which I thought was so sweet) and so that's what we did. My goal was to take her in, make sure she was ok and get out as fast as I could, so she would not see me crying. I made it to the parking lot! It was so hard, leaving my baby girl in the care of someone else, when basically for 4yrs she has been with me and in my care everyday. I cried all the way home and would catch myself looking at her schedule through out the day, so when it was whatever time, I knew what she was doing at that moment. My thing was, when I go to pick her up and see that she was having a good time and that she loved it and that she was ok, then I would be ok. The first day, I didn't know if she was crying or sad or what. But she had a wonderful day and told us all about it. I am proud to say that this morning there were no tears from Mom!

We went shopping about a month ago and she saw this outfit and loved it. She said Mom I want to were this outfit for my first day of school. She was so excited about it! I thought it was a very cute outfit, but even cuter was that she had it all planned out that she wanted to wear it for her first day of school!

Sunday night I cried myself to sleep silently in my pillow, because I was sure going to miss her and knew that once she started Pre-K on Monday, she was always going to be going to school and getting older and older grade by grade. But I knew she would love it and that she would be ok and that God would be with her even when I couldn't be. On the way to school on her first day, the song "There goes my life" came on and good thing I had my sunglasses on because that got to me. Then when we were about to leave her at school, there was a little boy who was crying for and went running after his Mommy. At that point I was not the only Mom that started tearing up. Then we got back home and Sophie laid around all day, seriously she did not play, did not bark, did not run around, she was killing me. So I told Jolee, when we got in the car that Sophie missed her today and just laid around. When Miss. Priss walked through the door, she bent down at Sophie's cage and said...Sophie I was at school and you can't just lay around when I'm gone, ok! Oh that girl, cracks me up!

Daddy and Jolee before she left for her first day of Pre-K! Even though Silas is my unemotional guy, he didn't cry but he called just a few more times yesterday and was wondering what I thought she was doing and how I thought she was. He not only took her to school with me, but also met me at school to pick her up and then suggested we take her for ice cream to celebrate and hear all about her first day at school. That was so sweet of him and I don't think he knows how sweet and special that was. And how much I enjoyed him doing that and being with us, it was so sweet. I asked him on his Birthday last week, did he think this could be the year he showed just a little more emotion since he was a bit older, so maybe we are getting there!

Jolee and Brennan before we took her to school!

When we went to pick her up, I will never forget the excitement and the look on her face as she ran towards me and jumped in my arms and hugged me and didn't let go for awhile. It was a hug that I will never forget! She said she had so much fun at school and wanted to come back tomorrow! She showed us some of the art work she had done that was hanging on the wall and even one that she got to bring home, it was a picture she painted of me and her. Her teacher told me I should keep it and hang it up, because most 4 year olds aren't very detailed and couldn't or didn't draw faces on their people like she could. Silas assured the teacher, that I would keep it and that I would hang it up with all of the other pictures that Jolee has done, in and around our house!

I wrote a little note that said..Jolee I love you, Love Mommy and I put it in her pocket and told her if she got a little sad she could pull her note out and know that Mommy loved her so much and would be back to get her in a little while. After school she showed me, that she still had it and had pulled it once to read it at school and asked me if I could write her a note tomorrow too. So her not today said...Jolee, We hope you have a wonderful day at Pre-K! We love you! Love, Mommy, Daddy, Brennan and Sophie! When we got to school this morning, she showed her teacher and told her what it said, it was so cute and the teacher told her that they were going to read a story today about Mommy's and how special they are (I admit I did tear up just a little) but then hugged and kissed my sweet 4 year old school girl and we gave each other a high five and out the door I was!

When we left her yesterday, she was fixing to eat breakfast (the picture above). When we went to pick her up yesterday, we got a such a good report on her. The teacher said, she was so good. That she listens to directions well and is very meticulous with her work! The teacher also told us, that Jolee was her special helper, during the fire drill (meaning she sat in her lap during it because she was scared). The teacher said, she was telling the kids, that they were about to go over and learn the fire drill and that it would make a loud noise, so if you wanted to hold your ears you could. At that point she said she could tell Jolee was about to loose it, so that's how she got to be her special helper. The girl won't even go in the bathroom while the bath water is running, because she says it is too loud. When we got home, I showed her that we had smoke alarms in our house too, in every room and it was for safety and it had to be loud so everyone could hear it. After that she went in every room and found where they were, so maybe that will help for the next time.

The teacher didn't say she cried, but Jolee said.... I cried for a minute mom, because I missed you and you had been gone a really long time (I said did you say that after you got a little scared from the loud noise, she said yes) and then quickly said... but the teacher started playing ball with me, to cheer me up!

Jolee telling her Daddy all about her first day of school, while we waited for our ice cream! She told us all about her day and her new friends and what all they did and what they were going to do tomorrow. She named some of the people in her class and told us they learned some new songs and said they are supposed to raise there hands, if they have something to say. She was so excited and so exhausted. She asked would I tuck her in bed at 6:40 last night. The first thing she played with when she got home was her Barbies, she said Mom did you tell them where I went and that I would be back? Yes, yes I did!

I thought I was home free and done with my crying for the day, but the book she picked out to read before bed was..."Love You Forever" so after a few clearing's of the throat, we finally finished it and then she asked would I lay with her and hold her till she went to sleep, that helped my feelings out a lot, she does still need her Mommy!

So all in all I think we had a great and successful 1st day of Pre-K!