second day in preschool

Ming Ming is obviously emotionally conflicted. This morning when we took papa Antoine to work, she was all excited about going out and went to put her baby doll into her school bag. I am quite sure that the school bag is associated with the day care as we have never used it before. She was disappointed then that it was only a car ride and we were not really going out to run or play. A few hours later, when we arrived at the day care, she was really happy when she saw the playground, but once we went into her classroom, anxiety hit again. She probably knows that this is the place where I drop her off. She clung to me a little bit, but also wanted to play with the others. She remembers Dahlia (eps Dahlia), Matthew, Haden, and Quentin – the four kids she played with yesterday - and repeats their names (after me) all the way through the car ride to the day care (and Abby and Julian also). It is hard to see her being so conflicted, wanting to play but also want to hold on to me to make sure that I don’t leave. Maybe it is better to say goodbye quickly tomorrow rather than lingering around.

When I told her (after half an hour, when they hit the playground) that I was going to leave and she would stay to play with the others, very precisely, just one sentence and she understood right away, the crying started. I was surprised by the precision of her comprehension. I used to think that their comprehension is vague and general; it requires expression, tone, gesture, and action for meanings to get through. Maybe it takes all of that too, but one sentence and she got it. It is like having a conversation with a grown up. You don’t need to say the same thing over and over again. Anyway, it ended the same way as yesterday, I fled the day care while Ming Ming wailed in the arms of Miss Danielle.

PS: she did really well for her second day, napped for two hours and play with the others just fine. She was doing some painting when I arrived to pick her up. It was funny, she was so concentrated that she did not realize that I was there already. But immediately she waved goodbye and wanted to go home. But the hug was less tight than yesterday.

After day care, we waited for papa Antoine in the central library till 5pm to go home together. 4 to 5pm is father time in the central library, quite some fathers readings to their little one after work. It is a nice scene, dads insteads of mums for a change.