Sophie Leaves The Nest. Sort of.
Posted by Joe Cianciotto
Today was our youngest Sophie’s first day of nursery school. Knowing this I adjusted my travel plans to make sure that I could be there along with Jen. The thing is that with Hannah, she was the first, so everything she does is new and uncharted territory. For a younger one, many times their accomplishments can sometimes feel like their stepping in the footprints of their older siblings. And even though as a parent, I don’t like to think I look at it that way, the truth is sometimes I find myself falling into that complacency.
That’s why it was so important to be there today for Sophie. I give Jen the credit because she kept this day on my radar and made sure I’d be around to represent. The funny part is her older sister, Hannah, is about as inhibited as a bankruptcy auctioneer, so the first day of school was a big party to her. Not so much for Sophie. Turns out Jen had to bribe our little nugget with the promise of Maui’s hook (from Moana of course) at Toys R’ Us if she got in the car.
So we finally got her from our house to the nursery school classroom. Fortunately the first day parents are invited to stay so we got to be there for the first hour. I would say for the first fifteen minutes Sophie was glued to Jen’s leg and acted like her teacher was Pennywise the clown every time she tried to say hello to her. Fortunately, they taped pictures of the children, taken at orientation, onto personalized mailboxes in the classroom. And for some reason, just seeing her picture there made Sophie do a 180°, and suddenly she was like, “holy crap, I think I belong here.”
From there the kids and parents were led out to the playground where the kids could roam freely and the parents could stare at their iPhones. The funny thing is that none of these kids knew each other so it was pretty cool to see them start to interact and acknowledge each other’s existence. And just like that Sophie seemed to get the hang of all of this.
Having to catch a flight, I bounced a bit early but left Sophie with Jen smiling in the playground. And while I was careening out of control in the back seat of my Uber, I couldn’t help but think that for so long Sophie has been the little sister and our baby. Today in many ways, was the first day she got the chance to chart her own path and life adventure, wherever that may take her. And her mom and I are just looking forward to the chance to ride shotgun alongside her…as long as she lets us.
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