Shelby's First Day of "School"

Yesterday--September 6, 2012--marked Shelby's first day of "school!" Shelby will be attending Mother's Morning Out at Trinity United Methodist Church in Gulfport this year. She will go one day a week (Thursday mornings) for 3 hours. Her teachers are so sweet and it's very cute little program. I think it will be such a wonderful experience for Shelby!

Packing Shelby's backpack the night before her first day of school
was the most emotional aspect of the whole process for me! ;)

Cheese!

"I'm ready, Mama!"

Here we go....

Shelby loves to point to all of the people she knows in our
picture frames and name everybody one by one. She does
this at least 5 or 6 times every single day! Ha!

Shelby's bookbag hanging outside her classroom

Shelby did awesome when I dropped her off yesterday morning! I could tell she got a little nervous when she heard/saw a few other kiddos freaking out, but she was fine. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck! ;)  There is a video camera in the classroom, and parents can watch the video from a television in the hallway. I stood out there watching for about 20 minutes before I ever even saw her on the screen! The camera only catches about 2/3 of the room, and of course Shelby was in the other 1/3 of the room. ;)  I finally peeked over the door to see where she was, and as it turned out she was standing right next to her little buddy Adam who was a little upset. Once Adam stopped crying, another little girl started crying and Shelby quickly went to her side. Ha! I'd like to say that Shelby was being sensitive and was worried about her friends (and maybe she was!), but she's usually enthralled with kids who are upset/crying/throwing fits for whatever reason. If we see a kid throwing a fit in Target, Shelby is always gawking. Shelby has never really been one to cry or throw tantrums, so I think she's always wondering what the heck is going on with them! Ha! Once most of the kids calmed down, Shelby started wandering about the room a bit more. But she was always hanging back and observing. It always takes her a bit to warm up, especially in a large group setting. It was such a neat experience to watch her interact in her classroom via the video. I always wonder how she acts/behaves when I'm not around, and today I got to find out! I dropped Shelby off at 8:30, and I finally left at 9:10. Pick-up time was 11:30, and I returned at about 11:20. I was anxious to see if Shelby had warmed up to her class. As soon as I got to the television, I noticed the teacher was sitting in a rocking chair and a couple kids were on the rug in front of her as she sang songs with them, but the vast majority of the kids were off doing their own thing. But where was Shelby? Front and center in the middle of the rug watching and mimicking every facial expression & hand motion of her teacher. ;)  Definitely a proud mommy moment for me! When it was time for parents to start picking up the kiddos, most of the kiddos immediately ran to the door. But Miss Shelby just kept on playing. ;) Her teacher had to call her name to come over twice b/c she was so busy playing in the play kitchen area. She was all smiles when she saw me though! I couldn't have asked for a better first "school" experience for our baby girl! We are so proud of you, Shelby!

Back in the car with Mommy after her first day!