They grow up too fast...

Alyssa, ready for her first day of school

My darling little baby girl for some reason decided to keep growing and getting older and now she a "big girl" and attending her very first day of preschool today. It was exciting for the whole family to gather all the items on the school supply list, choose the perfect back to school outfit and backpack, talking up the whole event - and the day has finally arrived.

As the mom (and a stay at home mom at that), I can't help but be nervous for her. I try to be reassuring and upbeat, all the while thinking to myself, what am I supposed to do without her?

On our way to her first day of school

As a family we all ventured up to the school (a whole 3 blocks from our home) and walked into the classroom where she would spend the next year. She did as the teacher asked, taking her back pack to the cubby with her name on it and putting her folder in the basket by the front door, then went to sit at a table to explore all the great educational toys.

Playing with the toys at one of the stations

It didn't take her long to find a corner of the room with dress up clothes. She went straight for the pink frilly dress and multi colored feather boa, that's my girl.Finding the dress up corner

The time came to say goodbye and that is not easy for her or for us for that matter. She maybe made it harder on herself sitting next to a boy that was already crying as we were trying to leave. We said "we will be back in a couple hours, have fun, we will see you very soon, we love you so much." And it seemed like at that instant she knew she was going to be on her own to do this now. The teachers assistant came over to visit and we quietly left.

As we left the school I was telling myself, it's only for 2 1/2 hours, it will go by faster then you think. I came home and my husband left for work. I immediately started cleaning, arranging, organizing. I even took the opportunity to run Christmas gifts we had been hiding in our closet to the storage unit. Once I got home I didn't want to slow down, thinking I know if I do I'm going to start thinking about Alyssa and wondering what she is doing, is she okay?, did she do okay after we left? is she having fun? making friends? learning fun stuff? listening to the teacher?.... on and on.

However, here I am editing the photos I took of her this morning and blogging about this whole ordeal and I still have almost an hour before I have to leave to pick her up. An HOUR! I'm sure the whole newness of this will wear off quickly, but the fact that my baby is no long a baby will never leave my mind.

She's grown up too fast