First Day of Pre-K 2016

Today was Piper second-first day of preschool.

Perhaps I should say her first day

of her second year.

Yes.

That sounds much clearer.

I was worried.

The last two months of preK last year

did not go well.

In May, when Piper had the undetected double UTI for a month,

she became very anxious 

and never wanted to be away from me.

Shockingly,

that was even the case with her beloved preschool.

Where once she would be in too much of a rush to go inside,

that I would have to beg for a hug a kiss,

by May, she was crying not to go.

Crying in the porch.

Crying for me not to leave her.

Her teachers had to pry her off of me one day,

and encouraged me to leave her there... 

crying.

It was awful.

The same thing was happening during her ballet classes.

It wasn't until after a full month

and three trips to the doctor that they finally discovered

two forms of bacteria growing in her urine.

Within 24 hours of starting her first of two rounds of antibiotics,

Piper was almost back to being her

wonderful outgoing self.

Only she wasn't.

During that time she learned to be more shy and timid.

It breaks my heart.

My once carefree little spirit,

now is a tiny worrier.

Her worries were what fueled my worries about PreK.

Over the summer, 

I continued to talk about her return to school.

She always gave the same response. 

"I don't want to go, Mommy.

I don't want to be away from you."

My heart broke a little more each time.

So today was a BIG day.

I've been preparing her in every way that I can,

but I wasn't sure it would be enough.

As a last resort, I spent the past few days

making her promise that she wouldn't have ANY fun at preschool.

I told her to be sure to sit on her hand and have NO fun.

This at least made her laugh 

and promise that she WOULD indeed have fun.

I promised her homemade chocolate chip cookies...

as long as she promised NOT to have fun.

She still insisted that she would have fun.

It became a running joke with us.

And today arrived.

We walked inside and she immediately clung to my arm in fear.

I held her hand and pretended not to notice what she was doing.

We delivered each handmade card that she had carefully created 

to each of her teachers.

Then we entered the art room.

One of her favourite teachers was so kind and patient

in talking to Piper about all the great things she had planned for the day.

She laid out some paper and paint 

to try to entice Piper to join her.

Ummm...

that's when little Miss Elliotte pulled up a chair,

sat down and started a masterpiece. 

Sigh!

Little bugger!

But it did help to break the ice a little.

Piper relaxed some

and her teacher was able to pull her over to join her.

Piper looked panic stricken for a moment, 

before she asked me for a hug and kiss before I left.

As if there was any question of that not happening!!

That was it.

She allowed me to walk away.

No tears.

Well, no tears from her anyway.

Elliotte wailed for ten minutes

because she wanted to stay and paint with Piper's friends too!

You win some.

You lose some!

It was easier to deal with Elliotte's angry protest

than it would have been to deal with Piper's fearful sobs.

Today was a success.

When I picked Piper up at the end of the day,

she was SO incredibly proud of herself.

I even had to stand in the porch and wait for her 

to finish up her snack and clean up. 

She wasn't in one bit of a hurry to leave. 

And she was very happy to announce 

that she didn't cry once for the entire day!

Hooray!

I'm so incredibly proud of you sweet sweet girl!

In the end, 

even though she went against me and did have lots and lots of fun at preschool,

I allowed her to help me make those chocolate chip cookies

when we got home.

I had happy happy girls!

xo

xo

My two favouite people on Earth.

I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up.
She says: an animal doctor.
PEI is a great place for her to be then. :-)

Showing off the cards she made for her teachers. 

Crying to stay with your big sister is exhausting.

Okay.
Make this photo larger by clicking on it.
You'll get a better look at Piper's milk,
which she held up to "show" me.
It's pouring down her arm, off of her chair and onto the floor right there.
Yep.
Just yep.

This one left her milk where it belonged.
But there was chocolate everywhere within arms reach
by the time she was done.