Mollie Goes To School!

Our little Mollie started her first day of "school" yesterday! We made the decision to enroll her in Harvest Children's Academy, a small preschool/daycare at a church nearby. They have a small teacher/student ratio (she has 6 kids in her class!), a good curriculum, will be learning basic Christian teachings, will be learning Spanish and Sign Language, and have super nice teachers to love on our baby girl!

Her first day went great. I knew she'd be a little clingy when I dropped her off because it was new and she's got a bit of separation anxiety these days, and sure enough she was. She kept going back and forth between crying and noticing all the cool new toys and cheerios at her table...couldn't quite make up her mind if she wanted to be upset or not :o) So in order not to prolong fussiness, I spoke to the teachers long enough to explain that she's potty trained (I got some crazy looks!!) and then rushed out the door. I couldn't WAIT to go back and get her because I was just so curious as to how she did all day! Here are a few pics of her on the way to school...she's got her new backpack, lunchbox, and nap mat (all of which she is very proud of)!

When it was finally time to pick her up, I found her playing happily with her friends (they were playing with little percussion instruments). Her teacher was very impressed with how she did; she made friends, followed directions well, and told them when she needed to go potty!!! I was so nervous that she would be afraid to tell them she needed to potty, but she did great! They even sent home a little "report card" about what all she did that day. I scanned it so that I wouldn't loose it :o) Also, when she came home, she was very talkative (maybe practicing some new words or something) and even sang us a song during dinner! They must have sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at school because she serenaded us with that over dinner...let's see if you can decipher the words! And she gets a little distracted with her A BED! (bread).

She sure was tired last night after all the fun at school. But she was super excited to go back this morning! When we pulled up this morning, she wanted to walk and carry her backpack. We got in and saw all her friends and she was all smiles! She cried for a sec when it was time for me to leave, but was just fine. It made me feel so relieved to know that she had a great time and was ready to go back. We're so proud of our big girl!!

You may be wondering why we decided to send her to school? For those of you who don't know, I've decided to return to work full time and make a slight career change. While obtaining my Counseling degree, I realized I am a better fit for School Counseling instead of Community Counseling, but didn't have the 2 years teaching experience that Texas requires of school counselors. So I'm kind of back-tracking now and getting my teaching certification so I can teach for a few years then move into school counseling (or just continue teaching...who knows!). I'm taking courses online and am substitute teaching for Ropes ISD and Frenship ISD so that I can gain some experience and hopefully get my foot in the door for a permanent teaching position. We feel like God has been leading us in this direction for a while, and I thinks it's perfect timing. Mollie is old enough to enjoy her "school", so to me it feels less like "daycare"(and it is structured like a school), which in turn makes me feel good about sending her. My time as a stay-home/work part-time Mommy has been SO WORTH IT, but this is what's best for our family now.

So that's where we're at! If you know any teachers at either of those districts, tell them to call ME first when needing a sub :0)