It was horrible.

Don't let the pictures fool you. And please excuse her dress tucked into her ruffle panties. Her dad was in charge.

It all started last night. I was trying to get all of Anna Grace's stuff packed in accordance with the little sheet we got from our Meet the Teacher conference.

Diapers labeled with child's name- check.

Wipes labeled with child's name- check.

Extra set of clothes- in a plastic bag- labeled with child's name- check.

Nap mat labeled with child's name- check.

Lunch child can eat on their own- labeled with child's name- here is where it got ugly.

Melt Down # 1: She's not going to like what I pack!:

I have a picky eater. Well, let me rephrase that. I have a child who could care less about food. She would much prefer to play, sing, read or any other activity other than eat. This just baffles me as I plan my playing, singing and reading AROUND my meals. Food comes first. Trying to pack a lunch for a child who doesn't eat much stressed me out. So last night we trekked in the rain and made an emergency trip to the grocery store to stock up on her favorites in hopes that she might eat something, anything.

So after slicing strawberries, cubing cheese, prepping blueberries, blackberries, cheerios, peanut butter crackers, boiling an egg, throwing in a few sweet pickles, some turkey, and steaming some carrots, adding a carton of milk and a cup of water, I now have packed her a lunch to feed the entire class. I'll let you know if anything gets eaten.

Melt down # 2: My kid looks homeless:

If you know my personality, or have peeked in my closet or cabinets, you know that I like everything to match and if it happens to be monogrammed, even better. I would love for my house to look like a Pottery Barn catalog and for Anna Grace to look like a kid from one of the pages. However, that was not the case. I originally decided not to spend extra money on the matching book bag, lunch box, nap mat and custom preschool labels since we had acquired most of the above from loving friends and family. After compiling all the necessary items, labeling them with black sharpie (since I skipped the personal labels) it looked like I scrounged what I could from goodwill and called it a day.

The only upside to this was that Anna Grace had the CUTEST outfit to wear for the first day of school. (More on this later.)

Morning of:

We overslept and it is pouring down rain outside. Sleeping in the rain is great, but when your sweet little alarm clock over sleeps it creates a bit of extra stress. Then, someone switched my sweet, cooperative little girl out for a terrible two year old I didn't recognize. AG pitched a fit about getting dressed, didn't want to put her coat on, wouldn't eat much breakfast, and SCREAMED when I put her in the car seat. This is all very unlike her.

We pull up to preschool. If you have an older child you pull right up front, the teacher meets you at the car and escorts your little one inside. If you have an 18 month old you have to find a parking space way far away, open the car door and step into a HUGE river of water, break your umbrella, get soaked trying to get your little one out of the car, and into her rain coat. She gets soaked because she doesn't want her hood on. Her nap mat gets soaked, diapers get wet and shoes and socks are soaked.

After we managed to get inside, my homeless child in her cute outfit now looks like a wet puppy and her cute outfit is toast. The only thing dry are her extra clothes packed nicely in a ziploc bag. Thank heaven for that list! We got some towels, I dried her off, switched her into her emergency outfit and i gave her a kiss and left as she started bawling.

Meltdown # 3: In the parking lot after dropping my crying, wet little girl off at preschool and forgetting to pack her favorite Monkey and blanket.

Recovery: Now I am at home sipping hot tea in my yoga pants sitting by my phone hoping they don't call and tell me she is miserable. I bet she will have a blast and I sure hope next week goes smoother. Otherwise, I don't know that I am quite ready for preschool!