Finley's First Day

Finley went to Mother's Day Out (MDO) today!  I found her this cute outfit on sale at Target and decided it was a perfect first day outfit since it had apples on it!  Nothing says "school" like "apples"! =)

When we got to church, I took Finley in and got her settled into her room.  She had no trouble getting into the mix of things.  She went straight for a toy and said "Hi" to everyone.  I gave Miss Sheila her bag and talked about food and naps with her and then I kissed Finley goodbye.  When I got to the door, I turned around and blew Finley kisses.  She gave me a look that sort of said "Mom, what are you doing?  You never leave."  But she waved and then went back to playing with her toy.  As much as I want to know that Finley enjoys being with me, I am very thankful that she is okay being left!  I don't think I could handle her crying every time I left her with someone else.

     

Sophia had a pretty rough day so I didn't really get a good idea of what  it would be like to have those 5 hours to myself, but it was nice to be able to soothe Sophia without also trying to play with Finley.  I was pretty excited, however, to go pick Finley up so I could see how she did!

On my way to Finley's room, I passed her buddy, Austin, and his parents.  I asked how he did and they said "He had a bad day."  That scared me a little since I knew how much he and Finley had enjoyed playing together at Meet the Teacher night.  When I got to the room though, Finley was playing with a big smile on her face and she lit up even more when she saw me.... oh, how I loved seeing that! 

Her teachers said she did great!  She did only take a 45 minute nap though.  I was actually surprised she took a nap at all, but hopefully, she'll get used to the excitement soon and be able to give the teachers a break each week!  They told me that she was really happy the whole time and marked "playful" on her progress report.

Miss Sheila did say that Finley was really good at playing by herself and was happy when moving away from them, but if they were playing with her and needed to go be with another child, she would fuss.  I was so glad she told me that because I realize that Finley does this to me when she is tired.  She plays just fine when I leave her except when she is tired and then she throws a fit so we're going to start working on this!  Aunt Amy gave me some good ideas on how to remedy this situation.

I am so thankful that Finley has teachers that I trust and that they will be a constant influence in her life this year.  It is so difficult as a parent to see everything and it's easy to overlook things without even knowing it.  I think it is going to be so helpful to have other knowledgeable adults to point out things I need to work on.  I really want to be successful as a parent.  I feel so in awe of God's grace in blessing me with Finley and I pray that I am always open to hear an outside perspective when it comes to her!

   

When we got home, Finley slept for two and a half hours!  She was worn out!  She also posed for some cute pictures on her first day and I was able to get more shots than  I had on Thursday.  In fact, she stood up all by herself against our front door for several minutes while I clicked away.  I was very surprised that she could do this!

All-in-all, I think we're going to love MDO!