Getting Schooled

Elsa had her first day of preschool at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center on Friday, Sept. 11. Here she is, all ready to leave on her first day.

Her first day was a little nervewracking—at least for me, anyway. Elsa came down with a case of the runs just two days earlier, and had a couple of accidents, including one while she was at the gym daycare. I can't even remember the last time she had an accident (it's been at least several months), and now here she was with two, within 48 hours of starting school! Typical! These were clearly urgency accidents—she just wasn't able to get to the potty in time. At the gym, she made it to the potty, but somebody was already in there, and she just couldn't hold it. She was reportedly very upset about it (they had to put a Pull-Up on her, poor kid, because I don't even carry spare underwear in the diaper bag anymore). The gym ladies were super nice and understanding about it, but I just couldn't believe this was happening the day before preschool!

So I really wasn't sure what to do. Keep her home, on the off-chance it happened again? Send her, and hope for the best? She seemed a little better on Thursday evening, so we loaded her up with white bread and cheese and decided to send her. Her preschool has what they call "gradual entry," where half the class started on Wednesday and the other half started on Friday, so I really hated for her to miss that first day, when she would have more of the teachers' attention.

Fortunately, she was fine. And she just loves school! When we arrived, she practically charged into the classroom—she went straight to a table and sat down to play with playdough. One of her teachers remarked, "She certainly gets right to it, doesn't she?" A lot of the other parents were hanging around, probably making sure their kids were adjusting okay, but Elsa barely even noticed that Claire and I were still there. So I said, "Okay, Elsa, I'm going to leave now." She gave me a wave and said, "Bye, Mommy!" while hardly looking up from her playdough. Other than the possible potty issue, I wasn't the least bit nervous about leaving her—I knew she would do great.

So on the first day, her class played with playdough, did some fingerpainting, made handprints as their first take-home artwork, and took a walk in the woods to find animals (the animals were actually stuffed animals that the teachers had hidden out there). Elsa found the turtle. They read a book called "The Kissing Hand," about a baby raccoon who was nervous about starting preschool, which was probably not a lesson Elsa needed. She also made her first friend: "The girl in the brown shirt." (She later remembered that the girl's name was Isabella.) Elsa actually cried when I arrived to pick her up, because she didn't want to leave! So overall, it was a very successful first day.

Today was her second day of school, and it went just as well as the first—other than the fact that when I picked her up, she was covered in mud! (See picture above—click to make it larger and enjoy the mud smears.) They went out to the nature center's pond, which was starting to dry up, so it was surrounded by mud. Elsa stepped in a particularly oozy spot and went down. She had mud all over her arms and legs and it was absolutely caked on her shoes. She cried when she fell, of course, but both of her teachers separately told me that she had a very quick recovery and was "a trooper." They take the kids out into the woods every single day, regardless of weather, rain or shine, so I'm sure this is only the first of many times that Elsa will come home grubby. And maybe one of the first things she learns in school will be where not to step when visiting the pond. : )

I think it's going to be a very good year at the nature preschool. We are just so thrilled that Elsa got a spot there.