First-ever first day of school!

My baby had her very first first day of school!  She started at Stepping Stones, which is kind of a pre-preschool.  Sosini goes to this school twice a week for just 90 minutes, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider this: other than the occasional babysitter, Andrew & I have never been separated from our child for even 5 minutes.  She hasn't even done all that many organized activities (Gymboree for 4 months when she was an infant, library story time once a week for 45 minutes, and most recently, gymnastics)....  Her shyness with the librarians, the gymnastics teacher, and other little kids whom she doesn't already know was what helped make our decision to sign Sonia up for Stepping Stones.  We felt that she needed a bit more experience listening to adults other than family members, and even though she is very socialized with our awesome playgroup, she could use some more time in close proximity with other kids.

To prepare for preschool, we talked about it a lot, read Llama Llama Misses Mama, and looked at the pictures posted on the Stepping Stones website.

I bought her a special first day of school outfit in purple, which is one of my favorite colors in which to dress The Great Sosini.  It is so fun to dress a blue-eyed child!!

Sis got to bust out her personalized backpack given to her by one of Andrew's family's friends.

Somebody's excited about going to school!!!

My blue-eyed beauty:

When we got there a bit early, I took a few pictures of Sosini waiting for the fun to start.  Sorry they're such bad quality!

After the drop-off (with nary a tear!), I sidled around the side of the building and took this picture through the window.  Sonia made a beeline for the train table, which should shock no one!

When I picked her up, there were no tears....  In fact, I swear she didn't recognize me for a moment!  She had stayed dry, and in fact, she instantly requested that I take her to the potty.  I had toyed with the idea of sending her to school in a pull-up (the kids don't have to be potty-trained for this program) just to take away one source of anxiety, but she asked to wear underpants. 

(Potty-training update: after 5 months of hard work, Sosini can usually make it through the day dry, but she still doesn't tell us she needs to go potty unless it's for #2.  We pretty much just drag her to the potty several times a day, and it usually involves some durm und strang.  Girlfriend wants to use the potty, but she likes to protest EVERYTHING just to show us she has her own point of view.)

Anyway, the teachers said that Sonia had a fabulous time, and with just the slightest bit of hesitation (one teacher described it as "wide eyes"), she participated in every activity.  Sissy LOVED craft time:

We're so proud of our little girl....  She did really well!  I was a bit worried about the drop-off and pick-up due to Sonia's history of separation anxiety, but she did great.  Yay, Sosini!!