First Day of Preschool

Our youngest started preschool this week. She was SO excited to finally get to go to school like her brother and sister. On her first day, I walked her to the classroom to meet her teachers and she went right in and made herself at home immediately. She barely looked up when I told her good-bye since she was already busy cutting and coloring what I later learned was a birthday card for me. When I picked her up, her teachers said she fit right into the class and it was as if she'd always been there.

So now she'll be heading off to school two afternoons each week and I'll have a couple of hours to myself. It will be nice to be able to work out without the time limits of the child care center at the Y, but it's very strange not having my little shadow with me. It's the beginning of her separation from me, the start of her growing up and entering into the world on her own terms. It's an amazing process to witness, but it's also the clearest sign so far that she's no longer my baby. And I'll miss that.