Signs She is Growing Up

Pav's first day of preschool was last month. Three mornings a week she leaves the nest for the wide world of the YMCA a few blocks from home. As an English speaking child of two American parents she is a minority (the DC area is so incredibly diverse), but for the first time ever she is around more children than adults. Having spent the last two years hanging out with med-students though, I think she still feels out of place with her peers!

She has two teachers, Miss Weesia and Miss Nafsitou. They are very kind and patient with us all as we learn the ropes. For instance, they didn't lecture us when we showed up the first day without bringing a lunch for Pavlina (I swear, in all the volumes of paperwork they gave us, it never said they ate lunch before pickup--well, maybe once). They did talk to all of us after she let herself out of the classroom to wander the halls (looking for me, I like to think) after I dropped her off last Friday. I explained that Pav has no fear of strangers, and was prone to running off at top speed whenever she gets a chance.

I used to look down on parents who walked their kids on a leash. (I mean, can't they just pay attention to their children and teach them not to run off?) I also thought raising a puppy would prepare me for parenthood. So now I have a very well behaved dog and a child with a leash.