Pre-School Begins!

Today was Noelle's first day of pre-school! It wasn't a true day of school because we just went for about an hour to meet her teacher and get the scoop on how everything would work for the year. Come next Tuesday will be the true first day when I leave her and have a whole morning (okay, really just two and a half hours) without her!

I convinced Luke to work from home so that Jonah could stay with him, and I could focus on Noelle and figuring out how everything would work with her. We watched our neighbors get on the school bus for their first day of the year, and I kept telling Noelle how exciting it was that she was also going to be starting school. Of course her response was that she didn't want to go to pre-school and that she wanted to stay home with mama.

I made a little 'first day of 3's pre-k' sign for her to hold and took the necessary pictures. She gave us her eyes closed, super cheesy smile that scrunches up her entire face. After I made sure we had a few decent pictures, she and I got into the van and headed out. By then she seemed a little bit more excited about going, and I kept talking it up as we drove to the school. Inside I was freaking out and telling myself we should just wait another year, she doesn't have to go to school yet, she can stay home for another year. Which is all true- we are choosing to send her. But we know she is going to love it!

We walked into the school, checked in, and wandered down the hallway to her classroom. I started to get a little choked up and told myself to just HOLD IT TOGETHER! One of the assistant teachers greeted us, gave Noelle her nametag, and told us to pick one of the available cubbys where she would hang her tote bag. She ended up with the purple oval cubby, and it looks like she'll be sharing it with a little boy in her class. We wandered over to where her classmates were playing, and she immediately found the bin of horses to play with.

The head teacher took us parents down the hallway to talk to us about procedures and what the school year would look like. Her teacher was so nice, and seems so excited about her year with the kids. There are two assistant teachers in the room as well, so I know that Noelle is in good hands! It's just so hard to think about hitting the school milestone, and leaving her with teachers!

But as Noelle said when we were leaving, "This wasn't scary, this was so much fun!"