With her backpack zipped, shoes tied and hair in a braid, my oldest daughter headed to preschool. I have to say that for the most part, there were no tears, and for my little miss there were none. She had a big smile and eager eyes, ready to make new friends and do a lot of playing (and learning).
Since she was born, she has always seemed ahead of the game, so it didn’t make me nervous sending my young 3 year old off on her new adventure. I knew that she could handle it, and so far, she has proved me right.
The weekend before, I went shopping to pick out some options for her to choose from for her first day of school outfit. To ensure that she picked out something we would both agree on, I picked out four options and she goes from there. I did have a favorite, and with no persuasion on my side, she happened to pick it.
On a previous shopping trip, she had already picked out her backpack — a robot, binder — with pink sparkles and notebook — a rainbow. We also had the privilege of being selected for snack day as well as “share day” all on the first day of school.
Since we have been out of our house going on three weeks before of our friendly flea problem, the timing wasn’t the best to prepare, in my opinion, an adequate snack. I kind of have a problem with doing anything ordinary and tend to need to take things to the next level. After some thought, I settled on a treat of gummy bears and Teddy Grahams reading “Have a beary good day” and a “kabob” of marshmallows and grapes on a pretzel stick. Seemed healthy enough and still pretty fun. Little miss didn’t really understand what share day was, since she had never participated in one before, but we finally decided on her dance shoes for her to talk about.
When morning came, she woke up on her own, which for her is a big feat in that she is known to sleep in until well past 10. Her breakfast of choice was honey toast, shaped as a pumpkin, with grapes, or berries, as she calls them and juice. She sat still as I braided the top portion of her hair, brushed her teeth and washed her face and got dressed. The garment she ended up in was a blue, pink and gray striped dress with silver sandals and a pink bow to top it off.
After a spritz of perfume to smell pretty, we snapped some pictures and headed for the car. I was still keeping it together, knowing I was going to have to leave her, but feeling pretty confident about it. When we got to the school, she said she was excited to see her new friends and took off for the playground. Not one to ever be very shy, she joined right in with the other kids climbing around and going down the slide.
When the whistle blew, we headed inside to drop off the snacks and find our backpack hook. Still poised and ready to go, little miss didn’t show any signs of tears or fears. I, on the other hand, knew I would be leaving her in a new place with no one that she really knew very soon, and wished I had sunglasses, like most of the other moms in the room had.
Come time to pick her up, my worries were calmed and I received a report that she had a great time and couldn’t wait to go back. That thought was further confirmed when on her day off, she asked to back to school. Hopefully, she can maintain that attitude all of the way through graduation!
Contact Staff Writer Jamee A. Pierson at (641) 792-3132 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com.