Ivie Family: Ryan's First Day of Preschool

We all survived it! She was excited and surprisingly good during breakfast and getting dressed. I was very nervous, but so happy that she was excited. Chris got off work that morning and came home to help me get her ready and drop her off. We arrived ten minutes early, thankfully, because Ryan insisted on pushing Emma's stroller all the way from the parking lot in. Once we got inside, Ryan started running towards her classroom. The next thing I knew I was setting her over the gate and walking away. It happened so fast! She was excited and smiling until I set her down, and then she saw two girls crying their eyes out. At that point she turned and looked up at me and started to cry for me. It was so hard, but I turned and walked away. I knew it was what was best for her. I did shed a tear in the parking lot. It is very hard to walk away from your child when you know they are scared and asking for you. Chris and I hugged each other and we loaded Emma up and headed to the gym. We actually got to work out at the gym together! And, Emma went to Kids Club for the first time. She did awesome. I didn't get paged overhead, and she was happy 50 minutes later when we went back to pick her up. Easy going, happy-go-lucky Emma! After the gym, we headed home to hang out in our very quiet house! Emma went down for a nap and Chris and I stared at each other and wondered what Ry was up to. 11:00 came and went and we didn't receive a phone call to come pick up Ryan. We had been told that if she hadn't calmed down they would call us by 11:00. We were proud (and I was a little surprised) that she was gonna make it the whole day on day one. Chris decided he was going to run a random errand and decided to swing by Ryan's school to see if he could catch a glimpse of her before they laid down for naps. The door was shut and he wasn't able to so he headed home. About that time I got a phone call from Ms. Nelda asking me if I wanted to come pick Ryan up. She said Ry had done well, but that she didn't want to nap. Or eat. Or drink. Since the last 2 hours of the day is nap time she figured she would give me the opportunity to come get her early if I wanted. Of course I did! I felt bad the poor baby hadn't eaten or drank anything! Chris pulled in the driveway and I passed off Emma and hopped in the car to go get her. It is only a 3 minute drive, so I got there quick. When I walked down her hallway I saw her standing with Ms. Nelda. She was happy and talking. When she saw me she smiled and started saying "You did so good! You did so good!" Ha! Apparently that is what I say to her when I pick her up from Sunday School. So stinking cute. She didn't look upset at all or even like she had been crying. Ms. Nelda reassured me that she had had a good day. She did say that Ryan would get sad and cry each time they would change rooms/activities. Then, she would calm down and play. Then, they would move onto the next activity and she would get uneasy again. She is just like her momma! I like routine and knowing what to expect. The unknown scares me. Which makes me think that next week will go even better for her because she will know the routine and it won't all be brand new. It took her a few weeks of Sunday School to get the hang of it and not get upset at all. She can now tell you all about the routine/schedule of Sunday School: "Butterfly happy all day", "did you eat a cracker?", "Jesus is my friend". I look forward to her verbal rundown of her preschool day once she gets a hang of the routine.
On the way home she said "Wanna go see Daddy. Wanna go see Emma." We walked in, she devoured some food and then she crashed for 3 hours. She made it 4 hours on day one. We are proud. I will pick her up everyday at 1:00 if need be. (I would like her to lay on her cute nap mat once or twice though).