Mom's Morning Out, Take 2

So I was kind of nervous today for a couple of reasons... For one, Abigail refused to say she liked it last week, or had fun, or anything positive. If I asked her a direct question - "Did you play on the playground? Did you like your teacher?" etc - she would answer "yes!" but if I asked her something more general - "Did you have fun? Did you like it? Do you want to come back again?" - nothing. Blank stare. Also, she's been super-tired and sort of cranky this week. She and her parents went to the beach over this weekend, and I think she just tired herself out having fun and maybe had a harder time getting into the swing of things this week. Yesterday she was looking for a particular book in the book bin, and when it didn't come free on the first tug she started crying - not "I'm angry" kind of crying, just big tears and some whimpers. She almost never cries! Especially not at something like a stuck book... normally she would just turn to me and ask me to get it for her. So I knew was a little out of sorts and we did all sorts of extra snuggling and loving yesterday. And took a long (3+ hours) nap. :)

And she cried when I came in this morning! My heart broke a little. :( She never cries when I come in - she's usually really excited to see me, I walk in the door and I can hear her little voice saying "Huh? Huh?!" as she waits for me to come in. But this morning I heard her daddy say "It's Sarah!" and she started crying and indicating she didn't want Daddy to go. Yesterday she found a picture of her daddy mid-day and started crying, too, but she was obviously not herself so I figured it was just the day. Anyway, I sat down on the floor next to her and Chris hung out for awhile, and by the time he left ten minutes later she'd moved on to wanting yogurt and not really caring who stayed so long as someone fed her. In one way, I think this is kind of normal - she's a daddy's girl, lol - but I hope this doesn't become a habit.

Anyway, on to Mom's Morning Out...

I told her we were going to school. No response. We got dressed, I told her she could show her new shoes to her teacher and she seemed to like the idea. We drive to school, and I'm kind of worried because she's almost lethargic - just sitting in her car seat, and I couldn't tell if she was sad or tired (or both). We pull up into the parking lot, and we're a little early, so we sit in the car and sing along to our CD (Veggie Tales "On The Road Again"). Abby doesn't point to the building, respond, anything. Finally I ask her if she's ready to get out, she nods, and we start walking up to the building.

We see the window to her classroom, and her teacher is there, and she waves, and suddenly Abigail smiles and waves back.

We get to the hallway, and Abby sees the playground, and she smiles and points. "What are you going to play on today?" I ask her, and she tells me without a pause, "Slides!"

We stand outside her classroom waiting for them to open, and Abby starts jumping around, doing the Tigger bounce impatiently. The door opens, her teacher says "hi" and Abby is off like a shot. Didn't even turn around to wave goodbye.

So I guess we can declare MMO a success. I'm not sure why Abigail won't admit she likes it, but clearly the playground, if nothing else, makes the rest of the day worth it. For my part, I'm thrilled she likes it, mostly because I don't think I could take it if she didn't. :)