First Day of School

"My baby is in school!!!!" *sigh* *teary sigh* *sigh*

Well hopefully, we did a good job of preparing Maya for this special day. We carefully chose her school, the Field Station. It has an excellent reputation in the community, the curriculum is well designed, the emphasis on nature is not only something we like, but has been shown in studies to be very important to development.

The school had an open house (seems like ages ago) and we all fell in love with the place. It's an old barn out in the woods in the National Lakeshore. The first floor has crafty (code for messy) activity areas - a water table, easels, etc. The second floor is a huge open area with a high ceiling and tons of windows. The children and teachers decorate it depending on the theme of whatever they are studying. When we went for the open house, the theme was rain forest and it felt like a rain forest in there - just incredible.

There are eighteen children in a class, two teachers, and one teacher assistant. The Field Station is a co-operative and parents are encouraged (required) to participate in the running, maintenance, fundraising etc of the school.

The children go for a hike every day. The teachers ask them to dress in long sleeves, long pants, and mosquito repellant is a must! "The Field Station is not about cute." They really told us that in orientation. Well, in my book, cute and rugged can go hand-in-hand ;)

After the open house, we registered Maya. Remember our "sleep-out"? Then at the end of this summer, they sent us the handbook and had a parent's orientation, where we met the other parents and learned about the pick-up and drop off procedures. This always makes me laugh because of the movie portrayals of parents that screw up this all-important task.

We were asked to come to the school on a specific Saturday for outdoor clean up day. Wayne took on this responsibility (whew) and helped clear areas around the school, set up a path, etc.

All parents volunteer to be on a committee. I volunteered for fundraising and Wayne is on the maintenance committee. Only one parent is required to serve on a committee, so one of us may drop out eventually, but for now, we're enjoying being involved.

Then there was a family orientation, where Maya was able to meet some of her classmates, get to know the teachers, etc. This was so nice, I think it will help alot that the first time we were there with her.

Then we come to today.....her first day of school! *open sobbing*

About two weeks ago, I went to the Disney website and looked at options for personalized apparel. I thought it would be nice if Maya had her name where everyone could see it. There were name tags for the orientation but I wasn't sure that there would be any today. It's always nicer when someone knows your name, don't you think? Maya chose to have Minnie Mouse on her shirt and underneath it, her name. The school designates each day with a specific color and the children are asked to wear that color. Her first day was red day, so we ordered the shirt in red. When it came, we made a big fuss that it was for her first day of school. I had to shorten the sleeves, which were three inches too long! I'm not the best sew-er, but hopefully it will hold at least for today!

We talked about school often and how fun it would be etc. Then this morning, I told her, "Today is a special day! It's your first day of school! Let's go put on your special outfit." She started with, "I don't want to go to school. I TOLD you, mommy, I don't want to go to school." but when I ignored here and just kept going, she seemed to get a little better. We put on her outfit and I said, "Let's go show Daddy, he'll be so excited." Her face lit up and she said, excitedly, "Let's go! Let's go!" When we came downstairs, she sat in Daddy's lap for awhile and watched Pinky Dinky Doo. I told her she had her choice of breakfast, because this was her special day. She could have, pink pancakes; blueberry pancakes; waffles; Mickey Mouse pancakes, french toast. She chose Mickey Mouse pancakes. Wayne started cooking and made the best-ever MM pancakes for her. Yummy!

At the orientation, Maya had so much fun playing at the water table with a little boy and doing a craft with beads. We just had to remind her of those two and the hikes and it would chase away any bit of anxiety. I do think it's time for her to go to school. She's getting bored around here and needs stimulation and especially needs to play with little kids!

It also gave her something to look forward to and security knowing the plan, to hear that we would both pick her up from school and then go to McDonald's for a special first day of school lunch.

I asked Wayne to drive her to school - I thought it might be easier for her to have him leave than me. So Maya and I had "hugs and kisses" and off they went. No tears! Yipppppeeeeee! Maya kept repeating, "I'll tell you all about it".

He said they went inside and upstairs, then when it was time for him to leave, Maya did get a bit clingy. But Mrs. Woerneke, one of the teachers, came over to distract her and off he went. He chatted with the head of the school for a bit, downstairs, but there wasn't any screaming from upstairs! Whew!

I can't wait to hear how her day went!