Today was the first day of "big girl" school for the kid. As previously noted, Sally can't go to school. For a while it seemed like this would be the end of the world, especially when two Sally's became a night-time thing at our house. Being the laid back mother I am, I chose to simply ignore the issue and let it play out on it's own. (I know, I should totally write a parenting book!) We never told the kid that Sally couldn't go to school, we simply told her that school was so awesome that unicorns would rain from the sky and she would get to play all day long. In my head, I've been trying to find a way to cheat the system... I mean... make the transition easier for the kid and I came up with a brilliant idea.
I dismembered Sally.
Calm your freaking horses people. I didn't do it in front of the kid and this is Sally #5, so we've still got Sally's to spare. I came up with the idea of a "Sally Blanket" that she could bring to school. The rules, as I choose to understand them, are that they cannot have any stuffed animals that go back and forth on a daily basis due to germs and lice being carted around by such play things. I figured a small blanket with a little hippo patch does not fall into that category.
I give you, Sally Blanket!
Sally Blanket has all the hippo-ness of Sally Doll but without the stuffing, or the body, or the limbs, or the music box. Basically, it's just a flat Sally head sewn onto a beach towel. The kicker is the neck tie. Miss Adelaide wraps her little fingers around Sally's neck tie as she is falling asleep. It is my hope that this decapitated, flattened Sally will be comfort enough for her during nap time. Either that, or she'll flip her freaking lid and be forever traumatized by the floating hippo head that haunts her nap time. It dawned on me last night that perhaps I didn't think this through.
Nevertheless, she awoke this morning uber excited about going to school! She pretended like she wanted to stay in bed all day with her Pappa, but I know deep down inside she was overcome with the joy of play-school. Can't you tell? 
I would like to note that she was showing off her "Stally Blanket" this morning. She had some minor issues getting dressed. I gave her the purple shoes, she wanted the pink shoes, and so on and so forth. Eventually, I got her dressed and in the car with all her school paraphernalia. Half way to school this happened:
AJ: Where my Tally Mama?
Me: She's at home baby. Sally can't go to school.
AJ: Her can't go school?
Me: Nope. Only big girls like Addie Jo and big boys like Adler get to go to school.
AJ: Yep, I go to school.
And that was it. I was clearly more worried about this whole "no Sally" policy than she seems to be. We got to school and grab her bag (which contained the awesomely awesome Sally Blanket) and she grabbed my hand as we walked inside the building. You should know that my daughter hates to hold my hand ANY where we go, so I began to get nervous.
We walked in and she saw all the elementary kids getting ready to walk to the BIG big kid school and she had a minor freak out. "Pick me up! Pick me up!" When we got into her classroom there were a few other children playing and this terrified the living out of her for a moment. Because what's scarier than toddlers playing with building blocks? She dug her head into my shoulders as I walked around doing the look-how-awesome-this-is-and-don't-you-want-to-play-with-it game. We stashed her items in her cubby and she was still clinging to me. After a couple more minutes she picked up her head and actually looked around.
AJ: (in a very low voice) I see dinosaurs.
Me: Yeah, they have LOTS of dinosaurs! (I was unaware that dinosaurs would be the thing to perk her up.)
AJ: MAMA! HER HAS BABIES!!!!
ME: Heck yeah she has babies! Which are basically the coolest little toys since sliced bread!
AJ: I get down. I go play! 
That was it. No fussing. No crying. A few minutes of hesitation and then she was off. I told her I was leaving and she gave me a hug and kiss and went back to her playing. Neither one of us cried.
However, that was hours before nap time so I'm not sure how the Sally Blanket went over when put to the test. Last I heard she was playing outside and loving life. Which makes me miss my tiny baby just a little. Which makes me want to eat strawberries and ice cream a whole lot.
UPDATE: Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddd, because I'm a mom, I called to check on her and she had a GREAT day. Although, her teacher did note that she spent most of nap time rubbing the patch on her blanket.
Guess I'm kind of a genius after all.
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