3 Kids and a Dog

We knew it would be hard for her to go somewhere by herself. It's funny to think that she has never been left anywhere without myself, Ty, Avery, Daddy or someone from our immediate family. But she will be heading off to preschool two days a week this fall so we signed her up for a week of summer preschool.

She started to cry as soon as I turned off the car and she realized where we were. I made her walk in, holding my hand. I tried to comfort her by showing her around but that was making it worse. I knew that the longer I stayed the harder it would be. So I handed her to her teacher as she wiped her tears with her "little bato" (a very small piece of her favorite blankie). We had agreed that she would leave it in her backpack but that was way too hard. She needed something to comfort her. As with Avery at her Kindergarten orientation, the teacher assured me she would be fine. I told the director on the way out, fighting back my own tears, that she could call me if Ally didn't settle down after a bit.

Avery and I went to run errands and I kept checking the time. Thirty minutes, an hour, two hours and no call. Finally we drove back to pick her up. All the parents were waiting outside. Ally walked out with her backpack on and THEE proudest look on her face. I gave her a huge hug and she said quietly, "I didn't even cry."

Drop off on day 2, 3 and 4 was just as hard. Lots of tears. But as she went to sleep the night before day 5 she told me that she wasn't going to cry tomorrow. She said she wanted to walk in like a big girl and put her Day 5 bug stamp in her little booklet by herself. And she did. I could see she was holding back tears but she found her new friend and the two of them stamped their booklets and headed off to play.