1st Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Samantha's first day of preschool. Surprisingly, she was very upset when we got there. I say surprisingly because she has been asking to go to preschool for several months now. When we toured several schools prior to choosing St. Mark, Samantha would become hysterical when it was time to leave. In fact, I began to panic (and sweat) when a tour was coming to an end realizing I would have to get her in the car with me somehow. On top of that, Samantha actually joined her new class a couple weeks ago for about an hour while we filled out paperwork and was not the least bit upset for us to leave her and gave us the most concerned look when we came back to pick her up. The only way we got her out of there was to assure her that she was going to be coming back very soon.

Fast forward to her real first day and I could barely pry her off my leg. It actually started when we pulled into the parking lot and she said, "I don't want to go to preschool. I want to go home." And when we entered the preschool playyard it became cries of, "No Mommy, don't leave me. Please, Mommy, don't go." Complete opposite of how Sam usually is.

Thankfully Sam had her friend (and classmate!) Isabella there to greet her and show her the ropes. Isabella was so sweet to Samantha and tried her hardest to get her to calm down with hugs and special requests, "Sampta, do you want to pet the bunny with me?", "Sampta, do you want to play in the sand with me", "We can bake a cake together", "Sampta, how about making a castle with me?"

Unfortunately, Sam was still attached to my leg so Teacher Patty (Sam's new teacher) suggested we all go into the classroom and that I should say a quick goodbye and exit. As soon as we got into the classroom Samantha began to remember how much fun she had before. And sweet Isabella tried one more time, "Sampta, will you play ponies with me?" That did the trick!! I bent down, gave her a kiss and hug, told her I would be back soon and out the door I went. I was so glad that I didn't have to leave with her being upset.

Go figure that when I returned to pick her up and went to hold and hug her, she said, "No Mommy, put me down!" She was back to her old self :)