First Day of Preschool

It felt like today would never come.  We have been waiting in anticipation since the first day of September for today, Sydney's first day of preschool.  In fact, it's her first day of her very last year of preschool, a pretty special day indeed!

We packed Sydney's new Hello Kitty backpack last night with all the things she would need for today, a giant red apple for the fruit basket and an entire mini wardrobe for the basket in her cubby.  Sydney loves changing clothes while she's at school and today was no exception.  In the short two hours of gradual entry that she had she managed to change outfits twice and when I arrived to get her she was wearing a completely different outfit than I'd left her in!

My girl, she is growing up.  While we were driving to school this morning I had a little flutter in my heart wondering if it was going to be a difficult goodbye this morning after having spent an entire summer together.  She loves preschool so much and is more than comfortable with her teachers but still, there were new things, new kids, new activities, a slightly different set up in the classroom than last year. 

Turns out my fears were unfounded as she squealed with delight the minute that Jen opened that classroom door up and let the children in.  She was beyond happy to be back and my heart melted with the outpouring of love that my child has for her precious teachers.

So after helping her fill her basket with clothes and get settled I gave her a quick kiss and off I went to begin the first of many mornings on my own.  It was productive, got my driver's licence renewed, met up with my cousin to pass along a ton of clothes that Syd's outgrown, had a coffee at Starbucks and took care of some housekeeping items at the preschool.  It felt good to be productive.

My cousin Sharlene gave me a beautiful bottle of wine to thank me for passing Sydney's clothes along.  I am always so thrilled when someone we know can use the things that Sydney's outgrown!

Today also happened to be Sydney's first gymnastics class of the season after taking a few semesters off.  I wasn't expecting much, if any, participation on Syd's part today as she is typically slow to warm up to anything new so you can imagine my pleasant surprise when, five minutes into class she decided that she was going to participate full-on and was okay with me waiting outside with the other Mommies.  She popped her head out the door to see me quite a few times but I was so proud of her in there all on her own!  Her buddy Addi is in the same class, I think she liked having a buddy there!

After class I let her pick out a special gymnastics outfit to wear for all the classes going forward. She chose this very colourful funky one complete with a matching hair scrunchie.  It looks super cute on her!

Today was a scorching thirty degrees in Vancouver, an amazing day! We were hot and sticky by the end of the day so I pulled Syd's hair back into a bun.  Oh my gosh did she ever look cute and about twenty years old all in the same moment!

It was a wonderful day, I was so proud of how Syd rose to the challenge of being on her own both at school at gymnastics.  I was elated and sad all in the same moment thinking about how much more independent she is getting with each passing day.  My baby is growing up!