Preschool Morning

I pictured Thursday morning going differently.  Of course, it's Ross' 9th birthday and he woke up filled with anticipation for the big day.  There would be birthday treats at school and birthday cards and gifts to open after school.  However, the birthday wasn't the only event happening today. 

 

Molly started preschool.

 

Mike's been in Dubuque, which meant I was on my own.  Everything started out fine, but with all the excitement, I didn't notice Molly going downhill.  It must have been somewhere between convincing Molly kids don't wear penguin socks with sandals, Ross explaining why he'll never trust a bank to hold his money and Maisie questioning whether her scarf was appropriate for school.  Suddenly and without warning, Molly stopped eating breakfast and starting swinging at me.  Looking back, I think it was her way of trying to 'cut the cord'..  Her little body was stressed-out and she didn't know how to explain what she was feeling.  All this talk about starting preschool was truly happening, and it was happening today.  That's about the time I noticed a down pour outside which would make school drop off even trickier.

 

 

 

 

 

She started like this.

 

But then turned into this.

 

And then this.

 

Upon arriving at school, I ran all 3 kids into the building.  We entered soaked and Molly realized her socks were wet.  However, Ross forgot to tame his bed head this morning and was grateful for the mini-shower to calm the tufts down.  Maisie discovered she forgot her backpack and Molly was crabbing about her socks and hair being drenched. 

 

Once we found her class, she completely lost it.  She not only cried, she screamed bloody murder.  Other students were watching her, but it didn't phase her.  The screams continued another 30 minutes after I squeezed her little hands goodbye and placed her in the lap of her teacher.  On my way out, I looked back, only to see her arms flailing as she screamed for 'mama'.  As a mom, there are certain times you've got to be super-tough.  As much as I wanted to stay, to bring in her 'night-night' to sniff, or to have my own little breakdown...I knew I couldn't do that to her.  I held it together like a champ; at least until I got back to the van and realized there wasn't anyone to buckle up in the back seat. 

How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.
~Winnie the Pooh