First Week of School Blues...

We did all the prep work over the summer to prepare our budding student for junior kindergarten. We practiced letter-writing, painting, songs, numbers and even "sold" the idea of being left with strangers for a couple hours. Okay so we didn't mention the whole stranger thing but it is true. So after months of preparation the big day came. We dressed her up in her school uniform, packed a nice snack, and went to meet the teacher. The teacher is the closest thing to a living saint. She's got grown up kids of her own, a calm friendly voice and demeanor and is extremely patient with the kids. In other words, she's not ME!  But when it came to dropping off our little tyke, she screamed, cried and grabbed my legs. Oh horror, I have one of THOSE kids. All the typical thoughts ran through my head. Have I actually been too good to her? Maybe I pay too much attention to her? 

After a couple days of the same dramatic scene, we figured our daughter was actually sick. She was coming down with a cold and cough and was understandably clingy. Once we realized what was happening, we took extra care of her and kept her home one day from school. After she recovered, we sent her back without any fanfare. Not even a "good-bye mommy". Nothing. No tears, no shouts of abandonment. It was dead silent. And when she was done with school, all she could say was, "mommy, don't give me anything drippy for a snack". I spilled the peaches the first day and the yoghurt the next." On the weekend we came up with a snack plan. I bake twice a week and she doesn't complain about the snacks. I don't know how I got stuck with all the work but you know, I aim to please and I'm competing with a living saint. Now if I could only find uniform-type clothing in toddler sizes.