First week at "the Big school"

We decided to move Mirin to preschool earlier than expected. Actually, we planned to move her to the preschool after she turned 3 but because her girlfriend who she grew up with decided to leave Ms Cathy on Sep 1st and we didn't want her to be at Ms Cathy without a friend her age. Luckily, there was a brand new daycare "The Learning Experience" opened near our work. We went to the open house and loved it. The room was big, organized and clean. Because it was just opened, the room was not at its maximum capacity (16 children 1:8 ratio). Mirin was the 6th child enrolled in the class. There were 5 children most time because 1 child was a part time only came half day M/W/F. It was such a good situation to start Mirin. Most daycare which had an opening, she would be the 12th or 16th child in the class. It would have been more difficult for her to adjust because she came from a home daycare which had about 4-5 children whom she grew up with.

I dropped her off twice prior week for a couple hours before her first day Tue 15th. She did well during the trial period no cry. But on the first day, not so much. Both me and Michael went to drop her off. She didn't do well. She cried with big tears and didn't want us to leave. We had to leave her. I then watched her through the window. She didn't cry for long. Ms Vanessa her teacher told me that she cried twice during the day but only for a short period of time. I stopped by to check her out during my lunch time. It was her nap time. She tossed and turned for a long time. Then I learned from her report sheet that she only napped 20 minutes on her first day.

The 2nd day was a little better. Michael resumed his routine to drop her off and I was the one to pick her up. He told me that she cried but not as much as the first day. The 3rd day, she still cried but not for long. I sneaked in to watch her after Michael left. She already played on the computer. On the 4th day, I decided to drop her off. There was a lot of progress! She walked and carried her back pack from the car to the classroom. She still hanged on to me and didn't want me to leave but no tears. She also made progress on her nap to over an hour by Friday. The next step was for Michael to kiss her good bye and Mirin to give him a hug before he left instead of him sneaking out. I hoped it would happen soon.

I was so worried on the first day and kept thinking that we should have waited a little longer before starting her at the big school. But when Friday came, I saw she progressed each day in a very short time. I thought we made the right decision. Only 4 days, she already recognized her Aa and Bb which I tried so hard to teach her but no success. Now I realized why my girlfriends called it a "school" rather than a daycare. I thought she started to like her new school because when I told her that we were going to the big school and she said "Yes!".