This morning, after the now-ritual lice-check & sign-in at preschool, Molly looked up at me and said: "You can go now, Mama."Drop-offs over the last two years have evolved only slightly. In her first (Beluga) year we would cuddle in the little play room (originally the foyer of the house-turned-preschool) by the Beluga Room and read a book. Then Molly would race to the windows of the Beluga Room and wave goodbye to me in each one as I walked by on the outside. At first she struggled with sharing this goodbye time (the other kids wanted to wave, too), and the teachers helped her find her space peacefully (no pushing allowed!).
In her second (Lion Cub) year we would cuddle on the couch in the cubby room, a sunny former back porch, then say goodbye at each of the windows as I walked by on the outside. At one point a few months ago she started getting distracted between the book and the window and I (wrongly) assumed she was done with the window routine (most Lion Cubs were). I got a note that afternoon from Molly & her teacher asking that I please remember to say goodbye at the windows. Apparently she remembered a few minutes after I left and was rather upset that I wasn't still at the windows, waiting.
A few weeks ago I noticed that this window routine was getting more and more abbreviated, and sometimes she just wanted the book and then to "push" me out the door. But somehow that didn't prepare me for this morning: not even a book! not even a ritual "push"!
I tried to act casual, surely she was confused:
"Oh, no book today?"
"Nope."
"Okay, so where do you want to say goodbye?"
"Here's fine."
I gave her a big hug and a kiss on the head and held back tears when the teachers said: "No book today, Molly?" "Nope."
(And I picked her up extra-early this afternoon.)
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