Preschool preview

A big step for our little lady ... Emma met her first pre-school teacher today!

We went in for a classroom visit first thing this morning and I have to say, Rob and I were far more nervous than Emma. We walked through the doors, me holding Emma's hand and Rob holding Julia. Emma took one look around and saw the little cubbies for backpacks and coats, so she Emma assertively tried to push her backpack (a fluffy pink Tinkerbell backpack that Auntie Caroline gave to her, which Emma jammed full of toys) into an empty one. We then had to remind Emma that she was not starting school today, we were just there to visit.

There were about 15 toddler sized kids playing calmly in different table stations and play areas and with out a single word spoken by Rob or I to push Emma to explore, she walked up to a table, pulled the pint sized chair out, and engaged in puzzle building with a little girl named Natalie. All the while, Rob and I stared in amazement and were "meeting with Mrs. O'Neil" but I could barely hear what the teacher was saying because I was so enamored with my 3 year old being so comfortable with this new school! Emma can be quite shy so I was pretty surprised that she let go of my hand and did this all on her own. But it also gave me such pride to know she's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing. My Mom has always said you raise your children to be their own person and you know you've done your job when they don't need you for everything. I know exactly what she means now, I was happy not to have to pry Emma off of my leg to go and take a look around and I was happy to see her play so naturally because that's exactly what she should be doing. She was doing this so well that after 40 minutes we had to give her the cue that our visit was going to end. Again, a new fear came over, she was having such a good time there is no way she's going to leave here peacefully! So we cued her and said "our visit it going to end soon" she looked up at us and said, "but I want to do my art", we validated, "I know, but today was just a visit, the next time you come you will get to do an art project" and POOF surprise, she said "Ok, Mommy. But when do I get to come back?" I said, "You start school on September 1st." Emma looked at the art easel and said "Ok, I will see you September". It was adorable. She then walked up to her teachers and said good bye, she held my hand and said "I really like my new school".

So, we now know Emma is ready to begin preschool, we are not naive to think there will never be a toddler meltdown about going to school, but today was a really nice beginning.