Preschool, Day 1

Today was Portia's first day of preschool. While researching preschools in the area, i noticed a couple interesting things. 1. Most preschools are run by the churches in the area. 2. Preschools not run by churches cost a lot of money. So, we opted for the church option. Portia attends the Church of Christ preschool called "Creation Corner". I might have been a little skeptical if some of the other LDS friends hadn't told me their kids have all gone to church preschools and been fine. At Portia's school, they have a weekly letter, shape, color, and Bible story. Skewed as it may be, my rationale was "hey, we believe the Bible 'as far as it is translated correctly', so if they misinterpret it, no biggie, we've got the Book of Mormon to do the teaching." We decided, though, that it might be time to actually spend time reading the Book of Mormon every night with the kids, now that they might be exposed to some "other" teachings. So far, after day 1, everyone seems really nice. Seriously, you can't go too wrong in a Christian preschool.

Portia was in heaven. She loved putting her lunch in her backpack, taking the pictures, and going to school with other kids. She kept asking me if she got to ride a bus the first day. Her latest question about school is, "So, this week I'm in preschool. How many more days until I go to Kindergarten like Palmer?" Somehow the answer ("lots and lots of days") isn't sinking in. But true Portia fashion, she hit the ground running. She walked into her class, hung her backpack up in her cubby (Proud momma moment when she recognized her name. Yep that's my kid), and headed to a group of girls playing with dolls. I asked for a hug and a kiss and got a quick peck and "see you, Mom." When I picked her up at 1:30, she grabbed her backpack and proceeded to say good bye to every kid in the class (by name). I was a little worried about her getting tired (school is 9:00-1:30) but clearly that was misplaced. This will be so good for her to branch out and meet more kids and get a little more structure besides nursery (yes, she's still in nursery because she missed the cut off date by 2 months) and home. And, it will be REALLY good for me. :-) I love this kid and love watching her shine in these social settings. I hope she can contain her excitement this year.

What a ham! (sorry for the bad photo quality, these are on my camera phone)

Her expression is a little weird here. I asked her to put her arms down and do a pretty smile. This is Portia's somewhat contained look. Can you tell she's excited?