Tuesday, January 3, 2016

Today was Selah Juney’s first day at UWF Educational Research Center for Child Development. We talked about it last night, and we talked about it this morning. By the time we were driving into the parking lot, she was saying she would be singing songs with the kids and was “so excited.”

For one brief second, when I opened the front door and the place was unfamiliar and the people were new, I saw a flash of intimidation. But just as quickly as it came it went. Miss Regena came out to meet her and immediately set to work to win her over. It didn’t take long. We walked down the hall to her classroom, and she saw the playground INSIDE the classroom and was a goner.

She tried to pass off her blue blanky to anybody who would take it as well as her milk, and she made a beeline straight for the indoor slide and over to the baby dolls. I spent several more minutes in the classroom learning about the procedure for lunch and diaper storage as well as the drill for medications. Not once did she come cling to me.

And then I was done with my orientation, and it was time for me to go. More for me than for her, I walked over to give her a hug. She obliged and then started back toward the slide. As I turned, I heard a faint little “kiss?” And with a turn of by boot, I ran back over to give her a goodbye kiss. All the teachers went, “Awwww….”  That’s my sweetie pie.

At lunch, I called the center and asked how she was doing. She had been there for a good 5ish hours. Regena walked down to check on her in Miss Annie’s room, and she was sound asleep with all the other kids having nap time. At 5, all the faculty moms were picking up their littles. As soon as I opened the door, she screamed, “Mommy!!!!!” and came runnin’ for me. We gathered up her stuff, and the teachers all raved about how amazingly well she did today. They were stunned at how much she enjoyed herself and adapted to the new environment.

We walked out to the car with Sheila Dunn and her daughter Catherine and son Robert, Jr. Selah June and Catherine chatted each other up about “Mommy’s car” and how dark it was outside. And we rode off in the sunset.

I don’t have a picture for the day, but it would take a 1000 pictures to be worth the word for the day – thankfulness.