Jin Xiu's Journey

CONFESSIONS OF A

NURSERY SCHOOL

DRAMA QUEEN

DAY 1
Monday was Emilees first day of Nursery school. Although Emilee is in all sorts of programs I thought it might be fun for her to go to a nursery school ( half day) for the summer. There she could play with other children , learn to separation and be more independent and develop academic skills.

The program is a wonderful program that has a lesson plan every day and a theme for the week. The theme of the summer is around the world in 36 days and every week they study and learn about a different country. This week is America.

I thought Emile would adjust quickly. I brought her to the school last week for a trial run. She quickly ran to the children, said good bye and all was fine. I came back 30 minutes later and she was great.

OK, skip forward to her first day of school. I took her to breakfast at McDonalds for Pancakes and we spoke about what a great day she was going to have. Then we drove to the school, Emilee had on her back pack ( a gift from Great Nana Lily) her new lunch box and her new sneakers ( OK I gave in and bought her sneaker). She was so excites as she waved to everyone in the building and skipped the halls holding my hand. She walked right into the room sat down at the mat and was playing with another child. I said " Goodbye" gave her a kiss and left. I waited at the steps outside just to see if she was OK. Just then another child walked in and began to scream and cry. That set Emilee off. I came back to comfort her, but she just wanted to leave. I stayed for about 30 min. on the side lines as she played. I then went to say Goodbye again and she began to cry and scream. I felt so horrible. The teachers told me to leave. I told them I would be right outside if they needed me. All I could hear as I left the room was my sweet daughter screaming and crying "mommy, Mommy". I think I was crying as much as her. It was heart breaking. She was screaming so load that everyone in the building came to see what was wrong. In a nearby room there ware a bunch of seniors playing MJ. They quickly came to comfort me and tell me all of their stories about theirs children's first day of school. I cant say it helped me much. Emilee cried for an hour and a half until they took her out to play. i watched form the window and she seemed to be happy sliding down the slide and climbing on the monkey bars. I felt a little better. I decided to go out to get a drink. When I came back, as I came in the building all the Seniors came over to me saying " I just checked on her she seems to be fine" . It was nice to know everyone was looking out for her. I still felt guilty and heart broken. I felt as if she thought I was abandoning her. I think it was the longest 4 hours of my life.

At 1pm I came to pick her up. She was sitting on a chair next to one of the teaches. She looked up saw me, ran straight to my arms and began to cry. She kept saying " sorry" as if she did something wrong. I kept tyring to reassure her that she didn't do anything wrong and that school was a fun place. She was holding on to my shirt so tight. My heart just broke. I stayed a little while and played in the room with her and the teachers and she said "goodbye" to everyone.

Once home she has been very clingy. I guess we will try this again tomorrow, Hopefully it will go a little better.