Clara's First Day at School

We dropped Clara off an hour ago for Mother's Morning Out at White Memorial Presbyterian Church, an event we've billed as CLARA'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.

We've been prepping Clara for weeks, creating strategies to help her cope with the terror of separating from her parents for a full four hours each week. We anticipated her clawing into her mother, begging that we not leave; of plastering her hangdog face against the window, pleading for our return as we slouch away from the classroom; of having to console each other in the car afterwards for the trauma of the morning.

We were ready for the worst.

As it turns out, and as the video demonstrates, Clara couldn't break away from her parents fast enough. When they opened the door, she made a beeline into the class, ready to play, and didn't bother to look back, to tell her parents goodbye. After all our emotional preparation, how anti-climatic!

We end up consoling each other in the car anyway, wondering on the drive home why Clara has so little attachment to her parents!