Wait...weren't you just born?

Maddie had her first day of SCHOOL yesterday! Ok, ok, it's actually MMO (Mother's Morning Out), but they have an actual curriculum- we're talking shape and color of the month, and letter of the week- so it feels very school-like to me. She's in the "Frog" class and goes every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-1:15. That's right, I now have almost 8 hours a week to do whatever I want! Pretty awesome.

We went to open house last week, and it went very smoothly. Mads was pretty stoked about the toy selection in her classroom, and would probably have preferred if I had just left her there that day. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't an option, so we came home and decorated her official tote bag. Alright, technically I decorated it and told her not to touch it until it was dry, but I decided to say that she helped me b/c I have the art skills of a 4 year old.



I hardly slept at all Monday night, but luckily Maddie slept like a champ, as usual, and was excited to start the day off right with some yummy pancakes and blueberries for breakfast.





I packed my first school lunch (which my mom gleefully reminded me that I would be doing for the next 16 years), but I guess Mads needs to get used to eating at school b/c everything came home except the oranges and juice box. She gobbled down the rest of it the second we walked through the door!



After refusing to cooperate for first day of school pictures, we drove to the church (less than a mile away, awesome!) and I dropped her off without a hitch. Miss Independent stayed true to herself, and although she definitely looked a little hesitant (it was utter chaos in the preschool hall), she told me bye and marched right in and sat down to start coloring with all of her classmates.





I really wasn't expecting to get emotional about her starting school- after all, we've spent time apart before (and way more than 4 hours, lol), and it's not even REAL school. But she just looked SO grown up sitting at that little table, and for the first time I left her, knowing that I wouldn't know everything that went on while I was gone, and knowing that she was in great hands but wouldn't be getting one on one attention while she was there. So I run/walked back to the car and burst into tears.





And then I enjoyed the heck out of my almost 4 hours alone :). When I picked her up, Maddie was happy to see me(yay!), but not crying like many of her classmates. She was very excited to show me the picture she colored, and then she came home, devoured her lunch while watching Yo Gabba Gabba, and then crashed for a full 3 hour nap. So I'd say day 1 was a huge success! I'm hopeful that she'll be excited to go back tomorrow!