I have a preschooler

The house is quiet on a hot and sunny morning in June.  What a bittersweet morning it is.  Today's the day that I dropped my first baby girl off at preschool.  How did we get here so quickly?  My sweet angel baby who has been craving this, needing to get out of the house on her own, is officially a preschooler.  But it's still hard.  

After spending months looking at different schools and going back and forth on pros and cons of each one, we finally decided and looked forward to a day, far away, that we would be dropping her off for her first day.  We did everything imaginable to prepare her.  We talked about it.  We made a social story.  We took pictures.  She was prepared, I was prepared.  And yet walking away from your toddler swinging on a swing and calling your name, saying "mommy's not going to go" is quite agonizing.  Will she forever have psychological issues related to swings??  Luckily my husband was there to drag me away, otherwise I'd be going to school with her for the rest of her life.

 I know she is fine.  She has probably already made some friends, at least with the teachers!  This is going to be the best thing for her and she is going to thrive.  Right?  It really is the end of an era.  I mean, I have a preschool aged child.  No longer a toddler.  No longer needing mommy and me classes as she becomes more and more autonomous each day.  At least I have one more infant to be my baby for a little while longer.  Here's hoping a special note in her lunchbox is going to remind her of all the love she has at home.

 Tonight we will eat her favorite meal of cheeseburgers and papas (French fries) and read an extra book or two before bed.  But for now, I'm calling her preschool to check on her, because well, this is hard.