Lunch bunch

Today Molly decided to stay for the extra 40 minutes at the end of preschool for "lunch bunch." I knew she was going to be exhausted -- that's a 4-hour morning! -- so we made a plan that I would show up at the usual pick-up time with my own lunch and eat at the table outside her classroom. Then if she wanted to go home at any point we could just leave.

I was pretty sure she wouldn't make it to the end. Her buddy Jadon wasn't staying. She woke up around 5 a.m. today (played quietly in her room for an hour and a half before her sunshine came on -- ack!) and was ready for a nap, oh, by 8 a.m. We packed her a lunch anyway (my first time ever packing a lunch for school, sigh) and set off. She was pretty wired when I dropped her off. It was the first time she tried to get me to stay in the classroom a little longer, but I got her interested in what the teaching assistant was doing (preparing apples to mill into applesauce for snack) and she didn't seem to mind when I left.

I was pleasantly surprised to find her fairly calm at pick-up time and still eager to eat lunch with her teacher and the five other students who stayed (her class has only 10 kids). At one point during lunch the teacher brought Molly to the door because she wanted to check in with me. She gave me a hug, then a cute little girl named Nora called her back and she went running back inside. When the teacher opened the door at the end of lunch bunch I found Molly and Nora snuggled together in an armchair playing with books, pretend reading to each other and putting the books on their heads. Molly lingered there while I got her socks and sneakers.
 
So I think Molly has a new friend. Of course they'll probably forget then even know each other by next Tuesday. Ah, the social life of a 3-year-old. :)