Yesterday was Luna's first day of Mother's Day Out at CCDC (Christian Child Development Center) at Lake Highlands United Methodist Church. After Luna was born, I had heard great things about this preschool and that it was hard to get into so I needed to enroll my child as soon as possible in their Mother's Day Out program. So we went to the orientation 'waiting list' information seminar back in January and got on the wait list. Luckily Luna got in because of her birthday!! So we picked Wednesdays as her day, although they do offer 2 day a week Mom's Day Out. Most of her friends did not get in :( But we decided to go ahead and enroll her there since it would be harder to get in later for preschool.
BUT, I had my reservations about putting her in a MDO because I have been having so much fun with her, and in just a few years, she will be sucked into the mandatory school system for the next, oh, 18 years, so why rush, right? But I know it's good for her because I have yet to put her in any church nursery, gym daycare, or other childcare setting yet, and she needs to learn to be away from me for a few hours. What I didn't realize is that this MDO is from 9-2:30pm and as most moms were happy about the 5.5 hours of free time to get stuff done, I was still not wanting her to be gone for so long at 15 months old.
We had Meet the Teacher last week and her 2 teachers are Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Chris. They are both very enthusiastic and love children, have been in Lake Highlands since the 1970's and have teenage children of their own. Luna warmed up to the room and did not want to leave, so that was a good sign!
So when Todd and I dropped her off on Wednesday morning, she was glad to see her friend Clay as they are going to be in the same class together!! His mom Erin, is a friend of mine in our playgroup and we hope our littles will keep each other company during the day.
When we got up to the teacher Luna looked at all the toys and actually reached for Mrs. Jennifer! What a relief that was, and Luna was happy and did not cry. I told her I loved her and I would be back to pick her up very soon. Todd said she was off playing already and snapped a quick picture of her as we left.
Her schedule is play time from 9-9:30am. Snack at 9:30am and then they will go outside, sing songs, read stories and then will have lunch at 11:30am. We bring their lunches packed in their backpacks, as well as a change of clothes, diapers, sippy cups and a nap mat. I asked to pick Luna up at 12pm before nap and the teachers were okay with that. Whew! If they weren't going to approve that, I don't know what I was going to do!
When we went back, we met with the director to introduce ourselves as she is new this year and she walked with us to Luna's room. Apparently the lights were already off and the little ones were going to sleep already. The teacher brought Luna out to us and she was clutching her little blankie and reached out for me. No tears though, so that's good. The teacher said Luna must have known we were coming because she refused to lay down on the cot. Ha! I was wondering how on earth they were going to lay down on a cot after sleeping in a crib for so long. I felt so much better that she had a good day and feel a little better about dropping her off again. Hopefully she will go back next week and be all happy again when we drop her off, and doesn't start realizing that CCDC means 'away from mommy' day :)
Here is the lunch I packed for her first day: Pimento cheese sandwich, peas, black beans, blueberries and strawberries.
BUT, I had my reservations about putting her in a MDO because I have been having so much fun with her, and in just a few years, she will be sucked into the mandatory school system for the next, oh, 18 years, so why rush, right? But I know it's good for her because I have yet to put her in any church nursery, gym daycare, or other childcare setting yet, and she needs to learn to be away from me for a few hours. What I didn't realize is that this MDO is from 9-2:30pm and as most moms were happy about the 5.5 hours of free time to get stuff done, I was still not wanting her to be gone for so long at 15 months old.
We had Meet the Teacher last week and her 2 teachers are Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Chris. They are both very enthusiastic and love children, have been in Lake Highlands since the 1970's and have teenage children of their own. Luna warmed up to the room and did not want to leave, so that was a good sign!
So when Todd and I dropped her off on Wednesday morning, she was glad to see her friend Clay as they are going to be in the same class together!! His mom Erin, is a friend of mine in our playgroup and we hope our littles will keep each other company during the day.
When we got up to the teacher Luna looked at all the toys and actually reached for Mrs. Jennifer! What a relief that was, and Luna was happy and did not cry. I told her I loved her and I would be back to pick her up very soon. Todd said she was off playing already and snapped a quick picture of her as we left.
Her schedule is play time from 9-9:30am. Snack at 9:30am and then they will go outside, sing songs, read stories and then will have lunch at 11:30am. We bring their lunches packed in their backpacks, as well as a change of clothes, diapers, sippy cups and a nap mat. I asked to pick Luna up at 12pm before nap and the teachers were okay with that. Whew! If they weren't going to approve that, I don't know what I was going to do!
When we went back, we met with the director to introduce ourselves as she is new this year and she walked with us to Luna's room. Apparently the lights were already off and the little ones were going to sleep already. The teacher brought Luna out to us and she was clutching her little blankie and reached out for me. No tears though, so that's good. The teacher said Luna must have known we were coming because she refused to lay down on the cot. Ha! I was wondering how on earth they were going to lay down on a cot after sleeping in a crib for so long. I felt so much better that she had a good day and feel a little better about dropping her off again. Hopefully she will go back next week and be all happy again when we drop her off, and doesn't start realizing that CCDC means 'away from mommy' day :)
Here is the lunch I packed for her first day: Pimento cheese sandwich, peas, black beans, blueberries and strawberries.
Here is Luna getting ready for school. She really wanted to wear her backpack, so cute!!
The Drop Off! We allowed Luna her paci today too because it was a special day. And I was planning on going to the gym after I dropped her off, hence the no make-up in the photo. I was thinking I could run over to the gym real quick in case Luna had a meltdown and they needed to call me and pick her up. But luckily I never got the phone call :)
