Mama's Little School Girl

Gwen had her first day of preschool today all by herself! It went well. We made it to school on time, she was a little shy meeting her teacher, but was excited about sitting at an activity table. I signed her in while she sat and colored. When I went to check in with her she had already moved to the play dough table. I asked her if I should leave or stay a few minutes, and she said leave, so I did. Around noon I got a very confusing call from her school asking me if I had dropped her off this morning, or if I had since picked her up. Then the call got cut off. I called them back and said I did not have her with me, and Teacher Vivian, bless her heart, asked if I could come help them find her. She called me within 5 minutes to say she figured out where Gwen was and that I didn't have to come and get her and sorry for the confusion. I was still very confused but glad Gwen was where she was supposed to be and apparently nothing had happened. At school when I picked her up I found out she had put another name tag on, a little girl named Madeline who wasn't in school today. When the teacher (who has a bit of a Chinese accent) asked her, "Is your name Madeline?" Gwendolyn said yes. Thus thoroughly confusing the teacher and her aid. It wasn't until they looked up her paperwork that has a photo of each child that they confirmed Gwen was not missing. Gwen seemed to have a good day. When I went to pick her up I saw her sitting on the floor with the other children listening to the teacher, and then she lined up near the door and waited patiently for me (all the parents line up outside and single file in the room to sign out their child and then help gather their things). She had a necklace of cheerios with the name Madeline tied to it, a piece of coloring (everything was colored with short intense brown strokes), and a skinned knee. She was very grateful to for the sandwich I brought her to eat on the way home (she inhaled it) and was clearly ready for her nap. On the drive home she told me she played with another girl. When I asked her if she would like to go back to school some time, she lit up and said, yes! I could be sad about my little baby girl growing up, but I am so happy for her and amazed at the little girl she has become.