Such a brave girl!

I'm sure that by reading the title of this post, you all thought that Kaelyn was the brave girl and you are confused by the picture but the brave girl is really... dum,dum,dum,dum (drum roll) no other than... myself. :) See, every morning that Kaelyn has gone to school since her second day, she has screamed and clung to my neck when we got into the classroom. She actually seems to love school other than the "me leaving" part so it's not been hard other than that part. Well, by Tuesday morning, I decided to just walk her in, give her a hug and kiss and turn around and leave immediately. I know that as soon as I leave they start getting her calmed down. Even though I just want to stay and try to convince her that it's going to be okay and that I will come back for her, I also realize that it doesn't help her or me feel any better if I stay around 5 or 10 minutes. So the last few days, I've walked her into the classroom, set her and her stuff down (or handed her right to the teacher), gave her a hug and kiss, and turned around and walked out. Then, as I walk away from the building hearing her screaming "Mommy, Mommy!", I sing merrily to drown out the thoughts in my head that I am being harsh to just walk right out like I have better places to go or things to do than comfort my little girl. I throw my head back and sing "Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a beautiful feeling, Everything's going my way." **(see footnote below) I know that's the best thing for everyone involved so I am being brave and doing what I would want me to do from the perspective of a teacher rather than a mommy. One of my friends told me that it was "very mature of me" to do that and that I must be remembering my days of working as a teacher at a pre-school.
I do need to mention though that today when I put Kay-Kay down she said, "Bye-bye Mommy. Bye-bye Mommy". She didn't cling to me and she wasn't crying although when they started to take her coat off (it was 37 degrees when we got to school today!) as I was walking out she started fussing about them taking it off and it sounded like maybe she was going to start crying - I didn't stay around to find out. So, yeah for brave mommy and I'm sure Kay-Kay is going to be very brave about it soon as well. Though I have to admit, I still don't feel brave when I pull out past the crossing guards. They always seem to yell at me because I accidentally rolled up to the second stop sign instead of the first one or now I'm scared to go so I stop and sit there looking to make sure they are really waving at ME to go (don't laugh at me - it's confusing when you're already nervous) and then they wave frantically and yell for me to keep going. I thought I was going to cry the first day they blew their whistle 'cause they thought I wasn't stopping and I just thought I was supposed to go up to the furthest stop sign. It's funny now when I think about it but I was about to stop the car and get out and be like, "I'm sorry, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to pull forward". Then they would have really been yelling at me like I was an idiot. I think maybe they kind of like their job too much 'cause they feel important telling everyone when they can stop and go but until I can afford a helicopter and just land on the roof of the school, I will just drive by them with fear and trembling (or irritation depending on what mood I am in).
** Some fictitious details have been added for the sake of making the story more interesting. I don't even know anyone who ever feels that way in the morning - "I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way?!" Really?! The song is from the musical "Oklahoma" if you want to go listen to the song now - but trust me, you probably don't.