Clare returned to school today after a nearly 2 month break. The past two months we had tried to get Clare to stay up late at night and sleep in each morning; we tried to get her to eat a late dinner and then fill her with snacks up until her eyes were nearly closed; we tried to hide all the food we had in the house each morning so we didn't tempt her with delicious cookies or fruit that we had forgotten to put away the night before.
We did the exact opposite of all of those things last night and this morning as we prepared to go back to school. It didn't go well.
Clare was not ready to wake up and cried while brushing her teeth. She threw every shirt I suggested she wear onto the floor and eventually chose the 17th option. She screamed as she brushed her own hair and was mad when I couldn't get her hair to look exactly like Princess Poppy from Trolls. And when I suggested eating something for breakfast at 7:30am, she looked at me like I had two heads and told me that the smoothie had gone bad. She was mad, but still allowed me to grab a quick picture.
When we arrived to her new classroom, she became incredibly shy and wouldn't let go of our hands. She didn't want to play with any of the new toys or her old friends. And she wanted nothing to do with the new potty. After some continued struggles with adjusting to her old routine, her teachers allowed her to find a safe space - with Maren. Clare spent the entire day in the baby room at Goddard. She played with Maren, sat next to 10 month old babies and ate applesauce and helped cuddle little, snuggly babies. Who wouldn't want to do that?
We are so lucky to have Clare and Maren both attend the Goddard School. The administrators and teachers are incredible. The community of parents and families have been so generous and kind. The team at Goddard genuinely loves our girls and will do anything to make sure that they are safe and happy. And today that meant allowing our nearly 3 year old to hang out with our 5 month old.