Almand Joys: Madi's First Day of MMO!

Today was Madi's first day of Mother's Morning Out at our church, First Baptist! Our little sweetheart has been filled with a lot of anticipation and anxiety about this day. The closer it got, the more nervous she got (and her mama too, for that matter!). For anybody who knows Madi, they know that new and unfamiliar situations make her very uncomfortable and nervous, so I was expecting nothing different from her. However, I've been a little emotional and nervous about letting my baby go, and it's just been tough to keep being positive and trying to put a positive spin on everything to keep her motivated!

We woke up this morning full of nerves. She'd go back and forth between wanting to go to school and not wanting to go to school. I knew she'd be fine once she got there and got settled, but poor baby could not be convinced of it! :) We did manage to get a few pictures before school.

Madi had her favorite breakfast...chocolate chip muffins...before school!

My sweet, big girl!

Got her backpack on, looking ready to go!

As I said, the morning was a little "rocky" until we got in the car to go. It's like she was thinking, "hey, I've got to do this thing, so I might as well be happy about it!" HA!

We drop her off at the entrance to the church, and the teachers escort her back to her classroom. I just KNEW there'd be tears and clinginess, but she was SUCH a big girl and jumped out of the car and marched right in with her teacher! I was SOOOO proud of her and SO relieved!

Micah and I then headed to Kroger to buy groceries, but of course I had to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes to compose myself before I entered the store. :) I was so relieved that she'd seemed happy going in, but it is SO incredibly hard to let her go! I feel so blessed to have had her "all to myself" the last 4 years, and I know it's time to loosen those strings a little bit, but it's SO hard! I know it will get easier with time, though.

Anyway, after we ran our errands and put up groceries, we headed back to the church to pick her up! Madi jumped in the car and said, "Mommy, I have had the best day EVER!" She couldn't wait to show me the watercolor picture she had painted and tell me about some new friends she had made! I was SOOO thankful to hear that she'd had an amazing day and had overcome her anxiety and fears! Praise the Lord!

One funny and precious story...today Madi had to bring a picture of her family to share with her class. I told her this morning that if she got nervous and got to missing us, she could look at our picture and think about us and know that we love her and are so proud of her. Well, when I picked her up from school, she asked me if I missed her while she was at school, and I told her, "of course, YES", and she said, "Mommy, if you miss me a bunch when I go back to school, just look at one of my pictures at home and think about me and know that I love you." Talk about melting my heart!

When she got home, she had to go to her room, say hi to her stuffed animals, and show them her watercolor painting. She said the animals really missed her while she was gone! :)

Words can't even describe how relieved and happy I am that she had such a wonderful day! This is one of the many "firsts" we will experience over the next several years, and although it's so hard at times, I'm so thankful that I'm blessed with a precious little girl that I get to watch develop into the beautiful, Godly woman! Thank You, God!

Madi is attending MMO on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm going to try to work with her on some basic phonics and early reading skills, along with some simple math work too. I set her up a corner of our living room with a calendar, chore chart, and "homemade" alphabet chart to give us a place to work!

This was our first day's project...putting the alphabet in order and finding the coordinating pictures to go with them! It was fun, and I'm really just amazed at how well she has mastered letter recognition and beginning sounds! We'll be sounding out words soon!

She loved calendar time!

And one more thing...Madi and Daddy had a "back-to-school" Daddy-Daughter date on Sunday evening! They got all "dressed up" and went to see "Planes" and eat at McDonalds! They both loved the movie and their special time together! I'm so thankful for a great husband who is such a wonderful daddy!