School and all the associated stories

Yes, I know there are several firsts that I want to keep track of when I had a baby but I am ashamed to admit that I turned out to be thoroughly useless in that department.
But better late than never and here I am to share the BIG milestone which we as a family accomplished 2 weeks back on 4th Jan '13.

To cut the long story short, I had no intention of putting Shreya to school right away. Couple of reasons and the strongest one being I was not ready for this BIG change (more for me rather) when S is not here. I felt that Shreya is doing awesome at home with the comfort of familiar faces and I wanted to continue that as long as I could. I was already feeling Shreya's babydom slipping away and keeping her securely at home was one of my motive to hold back these awesome days.
But something else stirred inside me during my last vacation when I saw how she is enjoying the company of her mates (in Silchar) and another reason being my in-laws who had planned to join me in Jan had to postpone their plan for couple of days. Both the things triggered this decision and me and S almost nodded at each other in unison (over Skype of course) that lets give a shot at playschool.
I went to check the playschool that we had already shortlisted before S went to Canada and was excited to hear that they are taking kids for 3 months program (Jan-Mar) for playgroup after which Shreya would be eligible for Mont-1 program starting Apr (in case we don't join S in Canada by Mar end as per current plan).
As the teachers went about demonstrating materials and things they would use in play to teach, the dedicated time-slot for each activity (puzzles, rhymes, snacks, outdoor/park time, story-telling/puppet time each for 15-20 mins), I was touched by the simplicity and the well-thought-of-activities of the whole thing. I had no doubt in my mind more because this school is just diagonally opposite to my apartment which means my maid can do all the pick-up and drop business and moreover Shreya has couple of kids from my apartment in her class too which was a big 'yayy' for her. Another process that impressed me about the school is how well they managed the transition for the kid as well as parents. They allow a parent to stay with the kid for first 5 days inside the class so that the kid gets accustomed to the environment, next 5 days the parent has to stay outside the class and will be called in case the kid is very upset. This 2 weeks time-frame is mostly enough for a kid to settle and I realised how correct they were in saying so. Its amazing how easily and happily Shreya adjust to new environments and this was evident last Thursday when I was feeling helpless leaving her with the teacher but she being the brave lil kid waved mimme bye and walked right in to her Ruth Aunty. So far so good and I wish she continues to enjoy the phase as she is doing now.

Other changes that I have noticed in her in a span of 2 weeks is she now lets me brush her teeth instead of screaming blue murder whenever I approach her with her toothbrush because that's something the teachers show at school. And she's also learning to self feed with a spoon and a fork. And she even showed me the way how her teacher has taught her to put hands over her mouth while coughing. And how she can put and take-out shoes on her own as she has do that in school. And how she has not reported any accident in terms of potty training in last 2 weeks as the school encourages no-diaper (unless absolutely required). 
This evening she flat out refused to wear diaper during bed-time. "I big girl. Huggies (thatz what she calls a diaper) is for babies, Ruth Aunty told"...Amen.