1st week of Pre-School

As of today, Elyssa has attended pre-school for exactly one week!

I have been toying with the idea of a pre-school for quite some months now, but signing her up was quite a spur of a moment thing. I must admit that the key reason is a selfish one - I wanted more time for myself. Taking care of a whiny 3 year old almost the whole day, with no maid and being 8 months pregnant plus doing cooking, laundry and light cleaning proved to be emotionally and physically taxing. Something I can do (and did!) but I realised that hey, I'm probably in a once in a lifetime career break, so I want to enjoy it as much as I can. Visions of me taking a leisurely breakfast or a mid-morning nap or reading a book or watching tv whenever I wanted to was not really happening. Well, I tried to..... but kept getting interrupted by "Mummy, can you read to me??? Mummy what is this???? Mummy why??? Mummy pls wake up! etc etc or worst still Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! (loud wailing with mucus flowing out type) Arrrrghhh!!!

The thought of 3 hours of peace and quiet in the morning had me on Cloud 9. :)

Anyway, back to Elyssa. As usual ,before any "big" event I start the pep talk one or two days before. Told her that she will be attending a big school like cousin Justin, that mummy cannot be there, that she cannot cry etc etc. Based on her track record at Gymboree, I guessed she should be fine with school but of course this was still a big step cos it's an entirely new environment.

When I dropped her off on the first day, she waved bye-bye to me then started to play with a toy which the teacher handed to her. In my heart, I was thinking...... err, like that only ah?? Yes, I did tear up AGAIN when I walked to the car alone, but not as bad as the previous time in Gymboree. Hee he.... mummy is improving!!

For the past week, I have been getting consistent answers from my questions to her teachers - "No crying at all", "She participates in the activities", "She talks to her friends", "She's very independent", "No problem at all". "She's doing well". And no pee incidents too!! (I send her there without diapers).

Yayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!! Bravo my little princess! You made mummy so proud again. :)

She enjoys the classes too. I love the big smile on her face when I pick her up. And getting her ready in the morning is really fast and fuss free - she climbs out of bed almost immediately when I tell her it's time to go to school. Ha ha..... if only she will continue to be this enthusiastic about school for the next 18 years or so. ;)

2 photos that I managed to snap last week -

Eating a light snack at the waiting area when I was talking to the teacher about school fees

Next time I turned around, she already climbed on a stool and was washing her own plate!