"Noooo! I don't want to go to school today," Z cried this morning, "I want to go back to bed and sleep."Who are you and what did you do with my daughter, I asked myself. Is this the same kid who has been talking about starting preschool since April? The one who responded to her daycare provider saying "I'll miss you," with "I won't miss you. I'll make new friends at school." The girl who's never slept in ... ever?
I started to doubt our decision to send our not quite 3-year-old to a Montessori preschool. A traditional, old-school Montessori where she's be doing "work" and going to the potty without grown-up assistance (I'm dreading the inevitable skid marks).
But since Z loves hearing stories, I decided to tell her about my first day at preschool. I have no recollection of it whatsoever, but I improvised. I told her about how scared I was at first, but how the nice teachers and new friends made preschool a lot of fun.
"Tell me again."
We were on a roll. Z got out of bed and headed downstairs where she ate a good-by-her-meager-standards breakfast. She watched an episode or two of Caillou (curse PBS for canceling it and forcing us to watch it on DVD) and got dressed without complaint.
We walked to her new school as a family and dropped her off without fanfare, as requested by the teacher. I picked her up an hour and a half later and she was ecstatic, jumping up and down with excitement. I didn't get much information from the teacher, but I gathered that she'd spent her phase-in morning working with an older girl on some "numbers blocks" and had cereal for a snack.
She seems to be looking forward to returning tomorrow.
