Gemma's First Day of Preschool

For a while now, we've been debating whether or not to enroll Gemma in a preschool program.  Ideally, we were looking for something one day a week, primarily to give her a chance to interact with some other kids her age (which has been hard for me to do, since we're constantly having to work around Ethan's eating/sleeping schedule).  We've had her on a couple of waiting lists for a couple of different programs for a while, and finally Grace United Methodist told us that they had an opening in one of the 5 day classes but they would let us bring Gemma 2 days a week to the 5 day class since they weren't filling the spot anyway.  The best part is that Gemma's cousin Liam happens to be in this class, so she already has a friend there and she loves playing with Liam, so now she will get to see him every Tuesday and Thursday morning at school!

We decided to ease her in with just one day this past week.  We loaded up the whole family on Thursday to drop her off. 

I have had very mixed feelings the whole time we have been making this decision, and sure enough, I was pretty much bawling my eyes out as I watched her little face staring at me through the window as I walked away (about to start crying again now just thinking about it!).  I think it was pretty one-sided though - from what we could tell, Gemma did not cry and when we got there to pick her up, she didn't want to leave!  When we picked her up, she was sitting quietly in her chair at the table with the other children, and was wearing this adorable puppy dog hat that they had made. 

It seemed like her first day was a good experience.  I know it will be great for her to be around some other kids her own age, and it won't hurt me to have a little break from her a couple of days a week since we are right in the heart of the terrible twos and between her and her baby brother, those two can quickly drive me out of my mind sometimes!  But I am more than sure I will still have a hard time driving off and leaving my baby girl the next few times.