1st Day of Preschool

Today was Chloe's first day of preschool.  She woke up in a good mood and was ready to tackle her new journey.  She did so well that if you didn't know it was her first day, you would've thought she's been there a long time.  She was like a preschool pro.

Immediately after we arrived, she dove right into playing.  She completely made herself at home.  She explored all the different rooms and checked out the different books and toys.  She didn't need to warm up at all.  At one point as I was talking to the school director, I noticed she waved hello to a parent as she dropped off her child.  Then she waved goodbye to that same parent as she left.  There was no stranger anxiety at all.

About 45 minutes later, the director (who is also one of the teachers at the school) announced that it was story time.  She started walking over to another room as the children followed.  Randy and I stayed behind the crowd to observe Chloe's reaction.  We were proud to see that Chloe followed the group without prompting or needing directions.  She just followed the herd and sat down in the circle along with everyone else.  She remained seated and quietly listened to the story.

We took the opportunity of her being engrossed in story time to quietly sneak out.  She had no idea we left.  I went on with my day wondering whether she cried when she realized we had left; whether she ate her meals; whether she drank her milk; whether she napped; whether she wet her pants; whether she paid attention in class; etc etc.

While Randy and I were on our way to pick her up after school, we made a bet on whether she cried this morning when she realized we were gone and whether she will cry later when she sees us again.  My money was on her crying on both occasions.  Well, I lost all my money.  The girl didn't cry one weep all day long!  When she saw us walk through the door, she happily greeted us with a joyful "Mommy! Daddy!"  and then she proudly showed us the lego pieces she was playing with.  The teacher gave us a quick run down of her day and it was all positive.

1. She did look for us once after story time, but she was quickly distracted by something and forgot she was looking for us.
2. She drank all her milk.
3. She ate most of her food.  The only thing she didn't really eat was the carrots.
4. She didn't have any potty accidents.
5. It took her a little time to settle down to nap.  She kept wanting to get up and play (which is what we expected).  But she eventually did fall asleep.
6. She got along with everyone.

Overall, Chloe adapted to preschool really well on her first day.  I credit this to two factors:

1. She has an easy going and outgoing personality.  The fact that she is not shy or afraid of strangers makes for an easier time to adapt to a new environment.
2. She has had experience with group settings because her babysitter had taken her to her son's preschool for drop-in play once in a while.  Those drop-in play sessions consist of free play, group story and singing times, and snack times.  Therefore in a way, Chloe had been exposed to preschool-like settings in the past.  The only difference is this time she was all alone without her babysitter nor us in sight.

All in all, Chloe had a really good first day of school.  We could tell she had a lot fun along the way because her excitement carried on well into the evening.  The little chatter box kept talking and laughing, talking and laughing all the way home from school, throughout bath time, throughout dinner time, and on and on until she finally fell asleep at 10pm.  We could not turn off her enthusiasm.  We didn't want to turn off her enthusiasm.  If only we could bottle it all up and save it forever.