1st few weeks of preschool (in review)

1st day of school
"Mom? I see boy butt. Boy go poop."
Communal toilets. Oh boy.

1st week of school
"Yeah kids nice to me. Everybody nice. No one hurt me."
"Little Indian BOY."
When I sing the 10 little Indians song to Astrid, I always make them little Indian girls, but at school they say little Indian boys. So Astrid tried to correct me. But she loves it when I sing girls because she's a girl so it's alright that Mommy changed the song just for her.

2nd week of school
"Mommy I missed you! I so happy to see you! You so happy to see me!"
When you're never away, you never experience the joy of being reunited with your kid.

3rd week of school
"My turn. My turn."
When she stayed at home with me there was not waiting for a turn, so this is definitely new. Everything is about it being her turn. Which is good I guess. She's learning to assert herself so she's not left out.
"You want to go time out?"
I saw Astrid putting her doll in the corner of her crib and asking about a time out. We don't use time outs at home so I knew she must have learned it from school. (We use the naughty step.) The gist of what I got is that some girl was put in time out and Astrid watched everything go down.

How was school?
Q: "What did you do today?"
A: "I don't know." (typical answer)

Unfortunately her teacher, "Miss Fathima" goes home at 1 PM daily, so when I pick Astrid up from school I can't get the real scoop on what went on that day in class (to talk to Astrid about it)- but I do ask her teacher when I see her in the next morning. And there are other teachers there who tell me she's a very good, smart girl and she's getting along well with the other children.

I do ask Astrid pointed questions, but the answers I get back or pretty much hit or miss and don't give me a picture of what really happened that day.

Now she also says "bye" to the teachers and to the other children when we leave (which she refused to do initially but now she does it straight away). Now we're still working on saying "good morning."

Nap Time
Naps I knew would be the hardest transition for her because she's used to sleeping in her own crib, being sung to by Mommy, having her back and feet rubbed. And I would get comments from Astrid everyday about how she was "sad for mommy when nap". But today one of the teachers told me that Astrid was napping now for 1.5 hours, when originally she did not want to go to sleep. I asked her how they put the kids to sleep and she said they gently pat their backs and tell them to go to sleep. She said that Astrid doesn't need that as much anymore.

Packed lunches
Everyday I pack a nutritious and fun lunch for Astrid. I bought cookie shape cutters to make different shaped sandwiches for Astrid. The first day it was a circle with a smiley face made out of raisins. U. saw what I did and basically told me I was more thoughtful than his mother ever was when he went off to school for the first time. The real reason I do it is because I want her to know that her mommy loves her even when we're apart and that she's reminded of it everyday. That's important to me.

On her own
Now that she's in preschool, she doesn't have me doting on her, so it was necessary to train her on a few things. In preparing her for school, I reminded her daily to always pull up her sleeves BEFORE washing her hands. That way avoiding her sleeves getting wet. So far so good, except for one day when she did come home with wet sleeves.

I also taught her how to use a tissue to blow her nose on her own. She's teething right now so her nose is constantly running. So every morning I put a clean folded tissue in her pocket for her to use at school, and I also brought a box of Kleenex with her name on it in her cubby hole at school if she needs more.

I also taught her how to use a napkin to wipe her mouth and hands as she's eating so that she doesn't stain her clothes, and isn't walking around with dried food on her face.

I also can't do elaborate hairstyles, or anything with big hair clips because I have to be mindful of her napping in that hairstyle and how it will feel when she sleeps, and how it will look when she wakes up.

So she's less pampered in a way, but so much better at washing her own hands (and of course she wants to do everything by herself anyway).

Final Destination
The school sold it's property and will be moving in June or July to another location in Altadena. So we'll have to see how it goes and if we will continue with the school or move Astrid to another school at that time.