School Daze

We are lucky - O loves school.  She just moved into the Two's Room at the end of January, and we're all still getting used to the new teacher and all still miss her One's teacher.  Such is life.

Dustin usually does drop-off; I usually do pick-up - it works on many levels, one of which is that I really suck at drop-off if she's having a meltdown, which is rare now, but not extinct.  Yesterday morning, the Tuesday after a three-day weekend (three-and-a-half if you count the Friday snow afternoon), was particularly hard for her, and I had drop-off.  Even in the car on the way there, she's saying "I go home" and we have a big discussion about how much fun she's going to have catching up with her friends.

She does fine walking into the school, but once we walk into her classroom, she starts the monkey grip and won't let me go.  We hang up her jacket, I do my best to stay calm and positive, I haul her now-limp, whiny body over to the Circle Time carpet and plop her down with her friends, all the time telling her what a great day she's going to have.  The big tears start, she and I are both miserable, but I know I'm only making it worse by staying so more hugs, more kisses, and out the door.

I also did pick-up yesterday, and as usual, ask her how her day went, and as usual, she talks about the teachers and her friends.  At one point, I think she says "Kaia" - talking about one of the little girls, so I repeat that back to her, but then she says, with one little fist up next to her eye, "No, Mommy, I crying." IT's the pantomiming fist next to her eye that gets me.  Me: "Oh. you were CRYING.  Yes, why were you crying?"  O: "Mama go work."  I love you, too, munchkin.  ;)