She loves preschool

I wasn't sure how P was going to do in preschool. I knew in the deep downs that she was going to love it, but the separation anxiety issue was giving me anxiety. In ballet class she wouldn't let me leave her, and had to sit in my lap the whole time. At Open Heart Camp she cried and cried because she didn't want me to leave her. I ended up staying two of the three days...luckily, it was fun for me and E too. :)

Given that, I was worried.

Well, the first day came. This day was only for an hour and the parents stayed with the children. We dropped bubbies off at Auntie Carol's and I pep talked her as we drove to school. "Ooh, I am so excited to go to your school! You are going to have so much fun! We get to meet your teachers" and so on and so forth. When we got there she was excited, but then she turned into a maniac. She screamed, threw a fit, yelled at the top of her lungs "I am going home! I want to go home! I am not staying here!" Then proceeded to sit in the corner by the door, as pictured here:
Yeah, it wasn't going well. All the teachers looked at me with their eyes saying "its okay...awe poor little thing...but we promise she'll be fine." P and I took our time sitting in that doorway. I was trying coaxing mechanism in the book, but even the fact that I was staying with her wasn't comforting her in the least. After about 20 minutes I got her in the door. It was hard for maybe the first 5 minutes in the room...and, I think all the colorful walls, play areas, books, and a trip to show her the playground piqued her interest. She started calming down.
We were called to circle and given a scavenger hunt game to do with the kids. P turned into an excited, interested little girl. She couldn't wait to find the teddy bears, the crayons, and the puzzles. It was fun! Then we had a tea party, played with dolls, and then we sat in circle as the teachers read a Clifford book. The teachers asked prompting questions throughout the book and my little P was the one who spoke up - not shy in the least! Who was this child that was sitting in the corner mere minutes ago? We took a trip to the playground where she played with new friends in the sandbox and then it was time to go!
The next week it was much easier. This time I took her to class and then went to a coffee across the hall for an hour. The teachers had to remind her to say good-bye - she was so happy to be there she didn't even care if I was in the room! Uhm...okay. Well, there you go.

Since then, each day of preschool she gets so excited. This passed week I didn't even walk into class to help her wash her hands, she did everything herself. I just waved....she didn't see me. Guess she loves it. That makes me happy.