The Logbook: First Day of "School"

I hope you like all the pics from the last post--I loved comparing the pics of C from last year at the museum to this year. She is just growing up so fast, but B and I are definitely enjoying the age she is at right now: certainly still a baby, but as our friend Chet said the other night, "she's pretty independent now, huh?"
(I LOVE observations like that from our friends who don't have kids yet.)

So, keeping in mind that Miss C is now 20 months and pretty independent, we thought it'd be a good time to enroll her in the Parent's Day Out program at our local Y. It's a seven-week program, M/W from 8:30-12:30. They do crafts, music time, all sorts of neat stuff.

I was a little apprehensive about it--we hadn't had a good experience with the MOPS daycare last year (she LOATHED it, and that's an understatement)--so I really started talking it up over the weekend. I told her how she was going to go to "school" and play with the "people." This prompted several questions from her:

C: "Mommy?"
Me: "No, Mommy isn't going to school with you."
C: "Daddy?"
Me: "No, Daddy has to fly the airplane."
C: "Mimi?" (binkie)
Me: "Yes, mimi can go with you to school."
C: "Mee Mou?" (minnie mouse)
Me: slight pause as I think about this one... "Yes, Minnie Mouse can go with you and play with all the people."
C: "no oo-wee" (Chewy, our dog)
Me: "No, Chewy is going to stay home."
C: "People!"

And then she walked away. I guess this satisfied her, lol.

I assumed since "people" was a new word she had learned for all the people who walk by our house, either walking their dogs, jogging, etc., she understood that's what I meant when I said "people."

So when we got to "school" on Monday morning, and I took a hundred pictures and then left, I was hoping and praying she would enjoy the company of other "people."

Well, no one called me to come get her (like when we would got to MOPS), so I took that as a sign that things were going well.

When I walked in to pick her up, guess what she was playing with? A whole group of those Fisher Price Little People. We have some at home (several Little People and their pink airplane :)) and we had also been calling them "people" since she learned the word.

Huh. I never thought that's what she thought I was talking about all weekend.

But she sure was happy to come running to me with a little person in each hand yelling, "People! People!" Apparently, she'd had a great time playing with all the "people" for the last few hours. No tears, no break-downs, and she even ate her lunch sitting at a table with no bib on. And she wasn't a sloppy mess. It's amazing what they can already do and you just don't realize yet. So she had a great time: she was happy, and as we left she said, "bye-bye, people!"

This morning when we went back for Round 2, she hesitated a little at the door. Then one of the helpers remembered Chloe's affinity for the Little People, and showed them to her.
She never even looked back after that. :)

So whether Chloe gets that she's there to play with REAL people or not, she is certainly enjoying herself and that is all that matters. That and the three-hour nap she's been taking when she gets home. :)

Here are a few pics from her first day: