School Days or should I say School DAY?

Today our baby ventured out into the cold, cruel, harsh, and lonely world of school. Okay, it wasn't really cold and cruel. And maybe it wasn't harsh or lonely either. And, for that matter, it wasn't really school. But, she did experience her first day at a "Parent's Day Out" program. Whoever came up with this idea should get some kind of medal. You get to drop your kid off in the morning and come back to get them in the afternoon. They even feed them lunch and give them a nap! (Well, you have to provide the lunch, but they feed it to them.) And all the while, I get to gallivant around town on my own with no crying whining kid with me! Yeah!!

Anyways, Jer and I had been toying with putting her in a PDO program for a while, but struggled with it because of the cost and the distance. Most of the churches that have them are all about a half hour away. But, we finally decided to bite the bullet and go ahead with it. I have a friend who works on staff at the PDO program of Mullins United Methodist so that's where our little one is now enrolled on Tuesdays from 9:00-2:30.

I dropped her off this morning, filled out the paperwork and received a short little tour of their facilities. She cried when Miss Rose (her teacher) took her from us, but in no time she was having fun with the rest of the kids. When I came back to pick her up at 2:30 (and not a moment later because you get fined $1 for every minute you are late) she was running around yelling and laughing with the other kids. In fact, when she saw me standing there, she smiled but did not run over to me. She just kept yelling and running and hiding in the coat cubbies along the wall. Miss Rose said she did great and had a lot of fun. She even got her take a nap on a mat on the floor. I think I need to hire this lady full time.

I feel like a professional mom now. Elise colored a picture that I have proudly placed on the refrigerator and I even got a newsletter to parents sent home in her bag. I'm in the big leagues now! But, I still have a lot to learn. All the other kids had brought their lunch, cup, blankets, etc. in cute little Dora the Explorer bags or Cars backpacks. But poor Elise had to bring her stuff in the recycled Baby Gap shopping bag. I guess I'll have to head to the store tomorrow to find her a VeggieTales bag.