Ready or Not, There She Goes

She has been ready to go to preschool for a while, or so she thinks. It started last Spring with her following her big sisters to the door when mommy announced, “The bus is here.” She would bang her hands against the coat closet door and whine. Then she would escape after us out the front door and totter off the step.

Over the summer, in an ingenious move, she stopped cooperating with her EI therapists. “All done,” she would repeat over and over. She pulled a few sit-ins, started throwing their toys, and made numerous attempts to slip away from whatever room they were in.

On Monday I bought her very first backpack. All pink and flowery with a cute little brown monkey on it. She wore it around the house telling me, “Bye!” She was on a mission to find her shoes, and once she got them she was determined to have Masha put them on her. Co-conspirators, they pranced around (Masha in my black boots) with their backpacks on, blowing kisses and waving to us all.

This morning I snuck quietly into their room and slipped my sleepy girl out of her crib. Right away she caught on that this was something exciting. She plowed through a banana and a strawberry Nutrigrain bar, while mommy fixed her hair all pretty. When it came time for socks and shoes she signed and said both as her little feet came flying my direction.

Once she was all ready we passed the time playing with her backpack. “Zip” she said, opening up the front pockets. She removed her package of tissues and her bag of spare clothes, and then repacked them again. In, out, zip, unzip as the minutes passed and daddy snapped pictures.







She tried to wear the backpack but overloaded as it was with day 1 supplies, it took her down.



The bus pulled up and outside we went. She was thrilled and tried to run to it while it turned around in our driveway. I watched her get strapped into the carseat and realized that I am nervous even though this is my fifth Very First Day of School.



Anxious excitement threatened to make me cry as the van door came sliding to a close, separating us. In the last second before the tinted glass hid her, I saw a look of realization come over her that said, “I am in here with these strangers and my mommy is out there.”



And for a few minutes after the bus drove off with my little caboose inside, I stood there wondering... is she really ready?