I am participating in a preschool co-op this school year with four other moms from church like I did when Logan and Lia were preschool age. Since I am in charge of it, I offered to host the first week which was last week. So, technically, Ella began preschool last Tuesday, September 12th, but I think it's a bit anticlimactic to take the first-day-of-school pictures when we are not even leaving our own house. As a result, I snapped this picture today as I was dropping Ella off at Jace's house who lives up the hill from us.
Of all of my children, Ella is the clingiest. She loves me more than anyone else and does not like being separated from me--even when she is left at home with her dad and siblings. It is something that I have never dealt with before. As a result, Ron or I have always had to sit with Ella during her nursery class at church and I have always wondered and worried how she would make the transition to preschool. We decided a month ago that the time had come for some "tough love" and I dropped Ella off at nursery and told her that I would not be staying. I bribed her with a piece of candy when I dropped her off and promised her another piece of candy when I picked her up. As hard as it was to leave a crying Ella behind, I knew that it was necessary for a successful preschool year. And to my amazement, she only cried for five minutes and then suddenly stopped and started playing with toys. I simply couldn't believe it when another parent found me in the hallway at church and told me this. I should have done this months ago! So, to my absolute relief, Ella has now been successfully dropped off at nursery for four Sundays in a row. I still have to bribe her with candy, but she does a great job quietly sitting down and playing with a puzzle whenever I leave her there. So, with all of that said, I had high hopes for today.
Although Ella started crying every time I told her that preschool would be at someone else's house this week, she was actually in a calm mood this morning. She chose two pieces of candy from the candy bowl right before it was time to go and willingly put on her shoes and grabbed her "pack pack" as we headed out the door. I was so happy to see her bravely walk up to Jace's front door with me, calmly walk inside his house, take off her shoes, and run straight upstairs where she knows the toy room is located. I had asked Jace's mom, Alisa, to host the second week of preschool weeks ago since their house is the only other house in the co-op that Ella has ever played at before. Luckily, Alisa, agreed. So, that helped to make this transition to preschool at someone else's home a lot easier. We will see how Ella does next week when I drop her off at a total stranger's house. Oh dear.
Regardless, Ella was so happy and excited when I picked her up two hours later today. She came running to the door, shouting my name, and gave my legs a big hug! Alisa said she did a great job and had no problems. Ella was so excited to tell me all about it and proudly showed off her letter B and number 2 worksheets and her "B" bracelet. Although it absolutely kills me to see my "baby" growing up, I am so relieved that she had a successful first day of preschool at someone else's house. Here's to many more!
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