Work it, girl!

So Ella totally has this whole preschool thing down pat! It’s only been 6 days and she is already a pro. Last year every single morning on the drive to school I had to give Ella a pep-talk. It wasn’t that she didn’t like school, she loved it and every day when I picked her up she had a huge smile on her face. She even talked the whole way home about all that she had done that day. I think it was more that school was something new, she was only 3, and the kids in her class were very active…VERY. Last year she cried every single day when I dropped her off. Half the time I was pushing her into the class room. My “inside sources” told me that she was fine after 15 seconds, but that didn’t make drop off any easier.

This year I am the mother of a completely different child. Monday of last week she was a bit hesitant….first day of school jitters. Tuesday was better. By Thursday she was good to go. Friday she had a mini-meltdown because, as Ella put it, her class didn’t get to go to the “fancy” playground (AKA, the playground with a little house for her to play in). All in all, the week was great. Each morning she’d give me a hug and kiss, then turn and walk into the class with Mrs. Bull. No pep-talk. No tears.

Today something happened that I never thought I’d see. I was signing Ella into class and she just walked right into the room without saying goodbye. She didn’t even care that I was going to be leaving her for 4 whole hours! She trotted right into that room like she owned the place. I said to her, “Ella…you’d better get back here and give me a hug!” She came back and had a huge smile on her face, but once I got my hug she was off.

No one can believe how much she’s coming out of her shell. She’s actually talking to her teachers and responding when they ask her a question. She got to be the circle time leader last week, another day she was the line leader, and yesterday she was the caboose. Apparently today they were singing and dancing to a song and Ella took it upon herself to get in the middle of the circle and dance. I guess she needed space to truly express herself.

So, my baby is growing up. I love that she’s more confident and likes her class, but I don’t like that she’s so confident that she doesn’t need to give me a hug anymore.