School girl

After over 2 years of private in-home care, we decided it was time for Lucy to start "school."  We've loved all of her sitters (and so has she!) and we love the care, attention, and love she has received at each place!  She's been around dogs and various adults and other kids in a range of ages...and she's had many fun adventures!  But now that she's older and more independent, we thought school would be a great idea to get her into a routine/schedule and to start interacting with other kids her age a bit better.

Initially we considered doing a facility 3 days per week and a sitter the other two days but ultimately decided the 5 day school schedule would be best.

We looked at the Little Red Schoolhouse in Alexandria but we didn't love it. 
Next, we visited Kids and Cribs in Ft. Thomas.  We were obviously looking for an extended-care facility but wanted one with a "preschool" portion of the day. 
We really liked Kids and Cribs but wanted to check out at least one more place so we stopped in at Abby's Child Enrichment Center in Highland Heights and really liked that one, too.  Lucy went with us on all of our visits and got used to talking about and seeing schools.  We talked a lot about how she was going to start school and she seemed to be on board with the "Lucy goes to school while Mama and Daddy go to work" idea.
We really liked Abby's, too, and Dave said for him it was a tie.  Abby's had the slightest edge for me and since it's basically at the top of our street (and in our backyard!) we chose them.

Her first day of school was on Monday, August 5 and I took her before heading off to work.  She and I had walked up there the night before to check it out again and Lucy got to play with the toys in what would be her classroom and even got to play on the playground with some of her future classmates!  She seemed excited - even when we had to wake her up earlier than she'd have preferred on Monday morning.

We let her hang onto her B all morning since something crazy/new was happening but it really wasn't necessary (though she told me she needed to bring that blanky - even though there was another one in her bag for nap time - because "me love this blanky").  She handed it over when we pulled into her school and she bounded into the building, then her classroom, turning to say, "Follow me, mama!"  She went straight to the table with her breakfast and started eating and after I took her picture, she said, "Bye, mama!"  I was dismissed!

Dave picked her up after lunch and her teacher, Miss Megan, said she'd done very well (I had not yet met her teacher - she was on vaca the previous week and didn't come in that morning until 8am and I left at about 7:35)!

Being silly before school (day 2)...

The next morning went about the same.  
When we got there, I got a chance to finally meet her teacher as Lucy got settled with her breakfast.  Megan had seen the B in her bag the day before and held it up and asked Lucy if she uses it and Lucy answered honestly, "Only when sleeping."  She hadn't stayed through nap on Monday but was going to the rest of the week and Megan asked if it was okay if she left the B in the bag and waited to see if Lucy would ask for it.  I laughed but told her that was fine and assured her that Lucy would definitely ask for it.  She told me no other kid in the class uses a pacifier (at least not at school!) but I was still confident Lucy would ask for hers...but I was WRONG!  She did not ask for it that day or Wednesday or Thursday!  Hooray for Lucy!  We may try to phase the B out at nap time all together...we'll see how that goes...
That day before I left, she asked, "You stay with me, mama?" but when I told her I had to go to work (then reminded her that we'd go to the library together that night) she was fine with it!

Wednesday was a little rougher...she woke up grouchy and wanted me to take her to school even though it was daddy's day to take her...and when he left her at school, she cried - but I called later and confirmed that it was very short-lived.


We have been picking clothes out the night before - thank goodness!  I could see it taking a loooooooong time in the morning...I usually ask her if she wants to wear shorts, a skirt or a dress and then pull out two or three options for her to choose from.  On Wednesday night, she picked "dress" and when I held up her choices, she kept shaking her head and saying, "No!  Sparkly one!"  What?!  One of the option had some sparkly spots (NOT good enough for her!) but she does not own a dress that is entirely sparkly!  We were nearing melt-down mode when I remembered this giraffe shirt.  It has been folded inside out in her drawer since after the first and only time she wore it (on our Columbus vaca).  You can't really tell from these pictures but those giraffes are made of sparkly, flaky glitter that got everywhere...I thought about throwing that sucker in the garbage can but luckily I kept it because it satisfied her sparkly need!

Drop off went smoothly - this girl just keeps making me increasingly proud!

I got to pick her up for the first time last night and she gave me a big smile and "Mama!" but then said, "I miss daddy..."  She was used to him picking her up, I suppose...

But luckily she said it was okay that I picked her up this time and she pulled me over to her bag to retrieve the artwork she'd made that day (and when we got home, she hung it on the fridge all by herself!).  I'd surprised her by bringing her pink car with me and we walked home which made her pretty happy!

We read her daily report for Thursday and saw that she'd napped for over 2 hours...from just before 1pm until after 3pm (which is kind of late for her) but hoped that running around outside at Daddy's softball game that night (which always results in a slightly later bedtime) would do the trick.  It did not.  We've been getting her in bed and asleep right around 9om all week...last night was more like 10:30...which means she was a super grouchy gal this morning...I dropped her off and it was not fun...that is all I have to say about that...

But overall, Lucy seems to really enjoy school and we are so proud of her!  We asked her if she has any friends there yet and she said, "Yeah...but I not know theirs names yet."