Friday was her first day of Preschool

I have been trying to get to the computer for a couple of days now to try and document these very important events. Anna officially started school on Friday!!! Thursday night I went to the back to school night and as luck would have it Gerard who is usually off had picked up an extra shift. Thursday was also my Mother's birthday. This year was a much better year then last year. Can you believe it has been a year since we found out my Mother had lung cancer?

Anna loves to sing Happy Birthday so she was sung to over and over again. We had cake and I rushed off to the back to school night while my Mother watched Anna. This time last year I never thought I would be able to say that so being able to leave the two together watching movies was a blessing.


The back to school started off in the standard way, yes I have gone to different back to school nights for my nieces so I was familiar with some of the people. Then it was off to Anna's class room. Although I had met her teacher a couple of weeks ago I can not help but think that I do know her from either around town or perhaps she is one of La-La or Me-Me's friends from high school. She is young, happy and I do believe she still loves her job. The class room is filled with a bunch of different toys for pretend play art supplies and books.



I feel lucky in so many ways because this preschool is free, 5 days a week and all day. Most people would jump at the chance to send their children to this type of program considering the cost associated with private preschool but more on that later. I have a few reservations about sending her 5 days a week for the whole day or even the whole day at first.

My number one concern is for safety reasons parents have to drop the children at the front door. The children are expected to be able to navigate their way to their classroom without assistance. I think that is a lot to ask of a preschooler.

I am just not comfortable with that right now for a number of reasons. First off Anna is unable to say her name at this time so how can she communicate that she is lost or who she is? We have been working on this for months and I do believe that soon she will be able to say Anna but in my attempts to have her attach and bond with me how is opening a door and asking her to walk to a strange building alone to find her classroom good for her? For children who may not be struggling with attachment issues this might be an okay practice but this is not okay for Anna. Did I mention there are over 350 preschoolers in her school?

After much discussion about this Miss C. and I have come up with a plan. I will drop Anna off early and she will come to get her from me. I do hope that this will work for us. I will say for a young teacher I do like Miss C. The classroom is organized and everything is labeled. Anna will be known as Anna the apple. Her things will be labeled with her Anna and an apple. I am thinking about labeling a few things around the house too.

Much of the day is free play and there are only 12 children in her class with the teacher and her assistant. I think this is a fair adult to child ratio that will allow Anna to have some one on one time with either the teacher or the assistant.

My second concern is Anna is still only 2, yes she will be 3 in a week but I do not want her to be pushed through or starting Kindergarten as a 4 year old turning 5. If Anna's birthday were 10 days later she would not qualify for this program. She would not be able to start kindergarten until she was 5 turning 6. My plan is she will have 3 years of preschool and I feel like that is not up for discussion at this point.

So why send her at all? Well this had been my thoughts last week as well. Plan and simple I think Anna will benefit a great deal from the speech therapy that will be offered twice a week. For today this is the only reason why she is going to preschool. I may limit her preschool to just those two days but I am not making that decision for another 2 weeks.

So how was the first day? Well Gerard and I were both home so we were both able to walk her to class. She loved exploring the classroom. The teacher found a bunch of lions for Anna to play with, lions are her favorite. I took pictures of the classroom and Miss C. for a photo album for Anna to look at this weekend. I also put them on the refrigerator for us to talk about throughout the day.


So how did the first day go? When I went to pick up Anna she walked to the meeting spot with Miss C. where I got a good report that Anna played well, ate and did not cry. I was greeted with a big fat "Momma" and a hug. Here is the sad part then Anna turned to the strange lady next to me, threw her arms around her and gave her an even bigger hug and kiss. I am trying not to read too much into this act but even the lady was taken by surprise by Anna's hug and kiss. This is the first time Anna has ever done this to anyone. When I said this to La-La she had the same reaction as I did and thought this was a bit strange.

Later that day it was meltdown after meltdown. At one point I held Anna and talked to her about school, I told her that she was my baby and I would always come to get her because I am her Momma. Monday Anna will not be going to school because Miss C. will be out for a personal reason. We both think it is best for Anna to go on Tuesday instead.

I have pulled a couple of articles for the teacher to read. I think this web site has also been very helpful to others who do not understand why attachment and bonding are so important. There is a short story there called 'A Different Perspective' that I feel really wakes people up to the struggles that these little guys have when they finally are placed with their forever family.