preschool

Back in September, Josephine started going to preschool three days a week at a neighborhood school.  It's a sweet little Montessori school that's about a 5 minute walk from our house.  Our neighbor, and Josephine's good friend Amelia also goes to the same school.  Here is Josephine on her first day of school:

  

The first couple days of school went well, although we could tell she was being pretty shy.  We couldn't really get her to tell us anything that was going on at school, except that she always had "popcorn" for snack (yeah, probably not true).  Then it got tougher to drop her off and pick her up.  She was always crying to "go home" or "go night-night" and holding on to me, which is absolutely heart breaking for a parent.  And then when we'd pick her up, she'd immediately start crying, as if she was holding it in for two and a half hours and finally felt safe enough to release her emotions.  Again...heart breaking.  But, we kept at it and after about a month she finally was excited to talk about going to school.  When we arrived to pick her up, she was outside playing with the other kids and telling us she wanted to stay longer.

walking home with Amelia (left) and Josephine (right)

Josephine doesn't always talk about preschool, but it's fun when she does open up about what she learns, her teachers, and her friends.  She always tells me, "I'm gonna draw a picture for you, mama!"  And then comes home completely covered in markers.  Or she will start singing the "clean up" song while helping me straighten up, or makes us sit for circle time to ready a story and say "good morning".  The sweetest though is when she starts singing a song and doing hand motions.  She generally has to practice for a while before she tells you what she's working on.  But, then she comes out with this:

This one breaks my heart to, because I start to realize how much she's growing up.  But the sweetness overpowers the bitter, and I just sit here an watch it over and over and over again.  And then I beg her to do it in person again so I can fill up with pride.  Oh Lord, what's going to happen when she goes to college?  We'll save that worry for another day...