school daze

Well. Somebody went to her first day of preschool yesterday.

We've been researching and debating for a few months now, since both businesses have been keeping us so busy (a great thing), and August-December will be here before we know it, and Luciya could stand to benefit from some social interaction and structure.

A couple months ago we visited two preschools near our home, first a small Montessori-based one and then a popular daycare center. John later said it was like dining at Gary Denko in San Francisco and then going to Denny's. At the Montessori, we were shocked to see Luciya sit with the other children and use a "manipulative" in which she transferred grains of rice from one bowl to another with a pair of tweezers. Say what?! Yeah, she totally did. Quietly. Then, when we visited the daycare, it was dark and dank and smelly and the children were running buck wild. The 3-year-old group teacher was just coming in from a smoke break (!) and didn't even offer us a tour of the classroom. That, along with the fact that we know the owners of the Montessori, kind of sealed the deal for us, and we've been budgeting and sitting on the idea for two months now.

And then, we decided to just try it out. Here she is before heading to school for her FIRST DAY:


Someone has her own cubby!


We hung out for a little while (I wanted to stay all day), and she immediately got swept up in the activities that were going on, and I immediately started blubbering like an idiot. John led me out. She waved goodbye to us from the window:

John took me to get a latte, and then he had to go work a double at the restaurant. I came home, had explosive diarrhea, and then sat on the couch staring out the window, sipping my latte, for a good 15 minutes.

I finally sprang into action and scrubbed the kitchen sink, cleaned the fish bowl, did a few loads of laundry, finished up some paperwork, and forced myself not to watch the clock. A meeting I had scheduled for that morning canceled at the last minute, so I was able to pick her up from school at 11:40 on the button.

And here she is. She greeted me with "Take a picture of me!"

She received a glowing review - it will take some time to get her used to the routine, and she is the youngest in the school, but the lead teacher seems confident it's a good fit.

She did it! I did it. WE did it. And that evening we were serenaded by the most stunning full moon.

We'll be trying this four mornings a week, for 2 1/2 hours each day. Exciting stuff.