That Kid, That Mom

I had been looking forward to today for a very long time.

Today was Natalie's first day of preschool.  Well, not the official first day.  But the day when the two of us went together to meet her teacher, see her classroom, and ... unfortunately became that kid and that mom ...

I should start by explaining that - back in January - I looked at five different preschools before deciding on this one.  I had to be chosen by lottery for enrollment.and was offered an afternoon class.  I was very hesitant to put my three-hour napper in an afternoon preschool, but the director seemed hopeful that a morning spot would become available.  Natalie was put on the waiting list for a morning class.  I put some faith in two scenarios: A) Natalie would outgrow her nap in the summer she turned three. B) An opening for the morning class would become available.

Neither of those two things happened, and I approached the school year with some trepidation.

So off we went to our first day of school ... well, technically, it was only an hour of school ...

On the ten minute car ride, Natalie spoke excitedly about going to school and yawned ... a lot.  During the next hour, I saw my poor little - tired - girl show a side of her personality I have {never} seen before.  She was very aggressive ... 

• She made a little girl cry by snatching away a set of markers - no words, just snatching.
• During circle time, she had a hard time choosing a square to sit on.  Someone else sat down on a square she had been considering.  Natalie found another square. While the teacher was talking,  Natalie got up from her square, charged across the circle, and pulled the carpet square out from under the other student.  This time there was just one word, "Mine."
• Outside for "recess" Natalie immediately went inside a play house, grabbed a pretend phone from the hand/ear of a five year old boy.  He - naturally - took it back, and Natalie responded with another, "Mine" and a decent amount of shoving/hitting ... just to prove her point.
• There were two more incident involving the house in the mere 15 minutes we were outside.
• Before we could even get her new school bag and walk to the car, she completely melted down.
• It was only 2:00.  A normal school day lasts until 3:00!

During the ordeal, I maintained my cool and felt good about how I handled the situations.  I wasn't that mom until I got home, put Natalie down for a much-needed nap, talked to my mom, and came to the decision that I need to call the school. Oh, I was so that mom!

The mom who calls the teacher before school even starts. Yeah, that mom.

I spoke with both the director and the teacher.  I told them that Natalie's behavior today was highly unusual.  I told them she is a child who requires a lot of sleep ... including a three-hour afternoon nap.  Both assured me that preschool is a tough transition.  It would take time for her to adjust.  However, no one offered a morning class - or even mentioned that as a possibility, which was pretty much the only solution that made sense to me.
 

I agreed to give the afternoon class a try.  But my gut tells me this is not going to work out.

We have the weekend to rest up before Tuesday, when  Natalie will go to preschool - for the first time - all by herself.