First Day of School!!!!

All week I have been prepping Olivia about the fact that she would be going to school on Wednesday to Little Caterpillar Academy. They had an open house last week and Olivia had fun in the short time she was there and talked about toys she played with ever since then. I told her that she was going to say, "Bye bye to Mommy" and she was going to stay at school by herself. Wednesday morning came and I went in to get her and I asked her where she was going today. She said, "Little Caterpillars, say bye-bye to Mommy, Mommy go get Daddy's shirts". Ha! So apparently, she figured I was going to go to the cleaners while she stayed at school.

I was thrilled to find this little school. It is brand new and run by three teachers, one being a Speech Pathologist!!! Their website is awesome, hitting all of the ideas that a fellow speech therapist would love. On the first day, we got there and they gave the children plenty of free time to explore and get comfortable. Then we all went on a tour to look at everything at the school, "following the leader" style stopping and exploring at each stop. Then we had a transitional activity that the parents participated in. After that activity, the teachers announced it was time to say bye-bye to all of the Mommies and Daddies. Olivia gave me a big hug and a kiss and said bye-bye. She seemed to get a little anxious right when I was leaving, but no tears or protests!! I left quickly and the teachers said she did great with me leaving! When I went back to pick her up, she saw me and jumped in my arms and started telling me about all she did. She really seemed to love it!

Very excited to check out what was inside her backpack

All of the silly faces of Olivia on her first day of preschool:

At least we got ONE semi-normal smile

Circle time with lots of singing!

Checking out the bubbles

In the gross motor room

While she was at school, I went to the mall to make a return and was able to casually browse and actually try on clothes! I also made a quick trip to the grocery store. I just ran right in and grabbed what I needed--in and out in 10 minutes! Olivia won't sit in a grocery cart anymore (unless it is a car style shopping cart) which makes quick runs to the grocery store a thing of the past!

Olivia will go to this school twice a week for 2 and 1/2 hours and then another little school one day a week for 2 hours. When she was accepted to both schools, we didn't know what to do. I am hesitant for her to go to so much and we will have to see how it goes, but it would be a LONG winter with a busy toddler without lots of activities.