Margot had her first day of nursery today. She's been in a frenzy all week about starting school. Every morning she burst into our bedroom at 6:30am asking, "Is today the day I start school?" Finally, the day arrived and she almost spontaneously combusted.
Nursery starts at 9:15am so we still had nearly three hours to go. I filled her with a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and fruit. She fretted about her outfit, finally settling on hot pink t-shirt under a sundress with hot pink socks and hot pink sparkle shoes. She wore her monkey backpack and a purple sparkly headband (because the hot pink sparkle headband broke).
We took some pictures in front of our building and embarked on our 4-minute walk to school, with Owen in the buggy, oblivious to the major milestone. We arrived at school - the Crypt Room of the local Anglican Church - and waited for the doors to open. We were the first, but gradually a bunch of munchkins showed up - some confident alums and some nervous first-timers. The moms looked just as anxious as the kids.
The doors opened and the kids stampeded in. Margot found her hook and hung up her shoe-bag with a change of clothes, her jumper and her monkey backpack. She ran into the room and dove into all the activities - playdough, painting, legos, etc. She was frantically trying to experience everything in the first ten minutes.
A number of the new parents stayed for some transition time, including me. There are four teachers - three women and one man - for 24 students. Strangely, they never introduced themselves to the new students. Neither did they explain procedures like what to do if you have to go potty or that you have to find your nametag and drop it in the mailbox for keeping attendance. I mentioned this to some people, and they felt that was just typically British, fostering self-reliance. They are all kind and excellent caregivers, I just found that lack of structure a little disconcerting on the first day.
After about 20 minutes, I told Margot I was going to leave. She got a bit forlorn and her lips started to quiver. One of the teachers, Lizzie, immediately brought her to the reading corner and started reading her some stories. Margot was engrossed so I made my exit. I lingered outside a bit with some other Moms of new students, then we wandered away not sure what to do with ourselves. We went out for coffee and waited, checking our mobile phones for panic calls from the nursery. Nothing came.
We returned at 11:30am - school goes until 12:15pm but they had us come back early just in case. Margot spotted me through the window and made a break for it. As soon as she saw me, the tears started and we decided to call it a day. She was already clutching an invitation to a birthday party - a wizards and fairies party - in a few weeks.
When we got home, Margot tossed her shoes and backpack aside and threw herself on the floor. She looked like a hostage who, upon release and return to her home country, kneels on the tarmac and kisses the ground, shocked to ever be home again.
She seems to realize that she's going back to school on Monday and everyday. It's going to be a long week.
See more photos here.
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