Friday was Gabrielle's first ever day of preschool. We woke up early because we were excited. Gabby cried the entire morning getting ready (I think she was nervous). I got Gabby dressed and packed her snack and backpack early. We headed out the door extra early to ensure we were there in time. On the way to school Daddy called. When I answered Gabby started singing one of her children's songs with the melody perfect, "I'm going to school today, I'm going to school today. I. Am. Going. To. School!" Daddy wished her good luck and we hung up because we had arrived at the empty church where school is held? Being only 20 minutes early I was sure the school teachers would at least already be here. After walking around the school making sure I didn't just park in the incorrect spot and asking a not so helpful person who pulled up, I concluded we were in the wrong place, but I had no clue where to go and was freaking out, but trying to keep it together for Gabby. Gabby was crying because she didn't want to get back in her car seat because she wanted to go into the school. Daddy to the rescue! I couldn't find another address, but Daddy did! So I buckled Gabby in and we started the 3 mile drive to school (for real this time) with me nearly in tears, but trying to stay positive and excited for Gabby. This was not the way her first day of school was supposed to go.
Once at the school I followed the instructions to go to the gym. I asked the lady for the name tag and where to go, she only told me where to go. Gabby was overwhelmed so I carried her to class name-tagless. We arrived 20 minutes late, but we made it! The children were in music class already and Gabby's teacher, Ms. Jennifer, was very sweet. She introduced herself and assured me it was fine that we were late. Gabby gave her the gift we had gotten her (a Starbucks gift card with a tag that said, "It takes someone with a big heart to teach little minds") and then she scooped Gabby up and took her to the music room. I walked in and told Gabby good-bye. She didn't even look back at me, because she couldn't miss a moment of her music experience, naturally.
I walked away thinking, this is not the way it was supposed to go, but at least Gabby has a nice teacher and was happy to stay. So I try to call Michael to tell him how it went on my way to Bible study for moms, but I had lost my phone. So then I had to back-track to find my phone, which meant I ran into Ms. Jennifer again, I am sure by this point she is positive I am flaky, which is fine as long as she treats my baby girl well. I find my phone and head to Bible study. However I cannot find it with the instructions I was given and I know if I stop and ask someone I will burst into tears so I decided to head home and leave my baby with strangers for the first time ever! I was not upset about her going to school, I was excited really, but I was upset that it didn't go as planned. The first day should have been exciting, not frustrating for her.
So I went home and spent my two hour break making missing cat signs (a story for another day), getting them printed, and posting them on the door of every neighbor until it was time for me to pick Gabby up.
I was VERY early to pick Gabby up, because I wanted to leave nothing to chance after the morning we had. Only me and one other parent were there super early. I got to watch Gabby walk into the gymnasium holding onto a little rope to ensure the little ones stay in line. She didn't notice me and was being such a big girl, it was precious. The teacher told me I could go ahead and take her if I liked. I asked Gabby if she was ready to go or if she wanted to stay a little longer. Gabby said I want to stay and watch the kids play (some older kids were having P.E. in the gym). So I allowed her to stay until parents were starting to get their children. Gabby cried when it was time to leave. Ms. Jennifer walked up and hugged Gabby and said she did a great job. My little one had cried because she loved school so much that she didn't want to leave. This was very reassuring to me that preschool was the right choice and showed a little of my personality, I loved school as a kid too.
We left school and went to meet Grandma for lunch and to tell her about our day. On the way I asked Gabby about her day. These are the tidbits of information I could get out of my verbose three-year-old: They went to the park. They sang music. She made a friend, he was the daddy and she was the mommy. They colored a train. She went potty twice and pulled up her own panties both times. She ate her string cheese and Goldfish at snack time. She has a lot of teachers. I thought that was a lot of information from such a young girl.
After lunch we went home and I opened up Gabby's back pack. She had a picture of a train that was colored surprisingly well and it said, "I can" and the blank filled in with the word "Joy." I was highly impressed with the coloring improvement in one class session, but the word 'joy' is not a word Gabby would choose to fill in a blank, this did not make sense. I asked Gabby if this was her train, and she said no, mine was pink! So apparently Gabby was given someone else's artwork and was not a prodigy who could learn to color well in three hours. Gabby cannot wait until next Friday when she gets to go back to school. I can not wait either. I am very excited for her. Hopefully next week will go smoothly. Luckily, I don't think she really had any expectations and I think her day went perfectly in her sweet little innocent mind.
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