First day of school

Summer is over and it's time for a new school year. Moving up to the "big kids" class. Same school. New teacher. New friends & classmates. New playground. New activites. New adventures. And uniforms.

Yep, uniforms. Can't believe that my 3 year old is wearing a school uniform. While it's expensive, it sure makes getting dressed in the morning easier. Well, at least that's what I thought anyway.

So, this morning, while getting Maggie ready for school, I pull out her khaki shorts and red polo uniform shirt. She immediately starts to cry.

"Why are you crying, sweet pea?"
"I don't want to wear that ugly shirt, Momma." (I started laughing so hard!)
"It's not ugly. Isn't the red pretty?"

"NO, it's not." (She felt pretty strongly about it too)

"Why do I have to wear an ugly shirt?"

"All the big kids have to wear these pretty red shirts now."

"Well, why can't the babies wear the ugly shirts?"

(trying to contain myself, I'm not actually sure what I said but my thoughts went immediately to - hey listen, this is just one of the many tortures of growing up...better get used to it...but I'm pretty sure I just said something like, "sorry sweets...you just have to wear it"

Since she was returning to the same school, our routine stayed the same. Thankfully. She understood that she would be going to the same school but would be in a different classroom with different friends and a different teacher. After about a month of explaining this daily, she was ready and ok with that on the first day of school (whew!)

We walked into the play room (where she goes for early extended care) and she looks in the window and stops dead in her tracks....

"MOMMA....the BOYS are wearing MY shirt, too?! Ugh!!!"

I just laughed, smile, gave my girl a kiss and wished her a good day. That had to be one of the funniest things she's done so far. She was JUST beside herself that a boy was wearing the same shirt. Oh how I love my very girlie girl!

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I ran into Maggie's teacher on my way to pick her up that afternoon. I asked how she did. Her teacher was very sweet and said "well, she definitely has a lot of energy"(understatement!) I laughed. Then she said, "I will not kid you. She did not listen very well the first time around, but by the second request, she would finally do what she was asked/told." Yep. That's my Maggie. I asked her if she took a nap and she laughed. Oh no. What?

She said that Maggie laid down on her mat and was quiet but was not still. She just kept spinning round and roung on her back and stomach. Mrs. S knew immediately that Maggie needed to burn off some energy before she could fall asleep. So, she went up to Maggie and asked her if she'd like to go for a walk. Maggie said sure! Mrs. S. loaded up a backpack with some books and asked Maggie to put it on for their walk (such a smart lady!) and they went walking around the halls and the gym. Every now and then, Maggie would say, "Mrs. S, I'm getting tired. I'm ready to go back now." and they would walk just a little bit longer. She told me that they'd run into other teachers who would just laugh at the sight of it ~ laughing because they know Maggie (apparently EVERYONE knows Maggie....is that a good thing?!? and because they knew what Mrs. S was doing!) So, they started walking back and Maggie said, "Mrs. S, I am REALLY tired. I need to take my nap." They walked back to the room, Maggie dropped that backpack, immediately laid down, put her hands up under her chin and was fast asleep.

Not only was I glad to hear that Maggie took a nap, but more importantly that she has a teacher who is understanding of her individual needs and personality, and who was willing to do something different because of it.

I think Maggie's going to have a great time this year in Mrs. S's class.