This morning, I took my little Sophie to preschool for the very first time. This mama is feeling emotional!
I got my tears out of the way at breakfast, thinking about a morning without her at home (and all the mornings without her to come), and how the house will be horribly neat and tidy, and regretting all the times over the past three years when I haven’t made the most of her company, or played with her enough, and when I’ve been impatient for her to get more independent. Now she is leaving me. That’s enough to get the tears rolling again.
Dropping her off was fine. We’ve chosen a lovely preschool and I have no doubts whatsoever that she will have a great time and they will look after her brilliantly. I know it will be good for her to learn to play with other children in a group setting, without me nearby. So when I took her into the preschool room, I knew she would be fine. I didn’t need to cry or be sad, because she will be happy and have lots of fun.
For the past few weeks, we’ve talked about starting preschool and how much fun it would be. I wanted to gently prepare Sophie for this step. Every morning she has been asking to go to preschool! Then, over the last few days, I’ve been making a big fuss of going to preschool on Friday, and getting her as excited as I can. So this morning, she was very keen to dress herself with clothes from her preschool basket, put on her shoes, brush her teeth and hair, and get in the car to drive there.
When we got there, we looked for her name label above her very own peg. It has a picture of a giraffe on it. Her teachers had shown it to her when they came for a home visit earlier this week. It is such a great idea for teachers to visit at home, so that the child knows a familiar face when they arrive. A little girl named Poppy came to Sophie and asked her name, but I think Sophie was bemused because Poppy was much older and bigger than her! We were a little later than I had hoped anyway, on account of the traffic. I will leave early to pick her up!
Once we had gone into the room, Sophie started off by looking at a book with one of the teachers and another child, and then moved on to painting. It’s one of her favourite activities, so once she got started with it, it was a good time for Matthew and I to say goodbye and leave. She didn’t flinch or worry. Neither did I. It wouldn’t do at all for her to see me cry, when this is such an exciting day for her. It was only when I glanced in the rear view mirror whilst driving home, and saw her empty car seat, that I felt sad. I’m happy too, because I want to give her wings and see her fly, but I also want to keep her close to my chest all the days of her little life, and keep her as a three-year-old forever. She is my precious treasure. Now my precious preschooler.
Now Matthew and I are back home after dropping her off, and he is asleep upstairs, so it’s all quiet in the house. I can’t wait to pick her up and find out all she’s been doing this morning.
Sophie, life is so much better since you came along. You are amazing. Thank you, God, for our precious daughter.
Salted Caramel Mum 