The first day of school!

So, Natalie started school this week!

We'd actually taken her to visit the school late last week. And that visit was not, shall we say, a success. You know how, like, when you take a dog to vet and they freak out and loose it in the parking lot because they can just sense that they have arrived at A Very Bad Place? Yes. Our visit to school was a bit like that. In essence, Natalie spent the whole time demanding that one of us hold her and also telling us that she would like to go home ("Nani go home? Okay, Nani go home!"). The only part of the visit she had any enthusiasm for whatsoever? The part where she got to say goodbye to her teacher.

Great.

Over the weekend, we totally talked up school, her fun lunchbox, her new backpack, and her waterbottle (also:  her teachers and the other kids).

Still, Monday brought some hesitation. In truth, both Mike and I had been up in the night worrying.

Here are some before school shots (note the Natalie tree and my attempt at rosebushes in the background).

According to Mike, the drop-off went fairly smoothly (a significant improvement over our first visit). And her teacher said she had a "great day"!

Here's the "after" shot:

How sweet is that?

The details: she's there just from 9am - 1pm three days per week. On her first day (she's in the frog class!), she had cheese, grapes, and pita chips for lunch. She also very excitedly told me about a "cheese fish cracker" (goldfish, we think) that she had for snack.

Here's a video of Natalie summing up her first day at school: