It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Today is Claire’s first day of “real” preschool. Last year, she went one day a week for an hour-and-a-half. It was a great experience for her, and turned out to be the transition that Momma needed. (Claire did fine…it was me who had to hold back the tears.) This year, she’ll go in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I’m almost not sure what to do with two hours to myself…twice a week!  Technically it’s FIVE HOURS OF FREEDOM a week, but I’m counting it as four, due to drop off and pick up times, etc.  (Although, 2 + 2 can equal 5, for larger values of 2…) 

You know that school supplies commercial where you hear “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” playing in the background, and the dad is dancing behind the cart?

Yeah, it’s kinda like that.

Only instead of plodding along behind me, Claire is just as excited to go!

Last night, we had the Open House to meet her new teachers and see her classroom, and as soon as we got there, Claire wanted me to sign her in and then leave. “Go home, Momma. Go do paperwork. Please leave me alone!”

Hmpf.

This wasn’t that kind of thing…we weren’t supposed to leave them there, much to her dismay.

So, today is an exciting day. This is the earliest we’ve had to be out of the house for something like this…and last night was our first real school night. We have to get up early! (Well, early for us…) I don’t remember the last time I had to get up early for school, but I think it was sometime in the late 1900s.

Despite the change in our schedule, today went smoothly, and I am happy to report that today’s drop off was a complete success! There were no tears! And, Claire did great too.