... not that it's a competition or anything, but I think it's safe to say that on her first day, MJ's preschool got the better of this mommy. No big deal, or anything, it's just that when I pulled her out of the car to take her inside, I looked down and saw a long dribble of something wet all the way down her orange sherbet-colored shirt. Great. Maybe it's just water.

"MJ, what is that?" I asked her.

She looked down. "Oh," she said, in her best don't-worry-about-it-Mommy voice (which she inherited from her father, who likes to tell me that he'll let me know when it's time to worry), "that's just toothpaste."

Toothpaste dribble. She missed her mouth while brushing. By the time we got inside, it was that lovely chalky shade that makes any first day of school truly special. Oh well. Obviously, there are worse things.

Like going out to your car after dropping off your newly minted preschooler and hearing this sound when you turn the key in the ignition: "Cluuunk. Cluuunk. Cluuuuuuunk." Then checking your purse (wait ... do I have my purse? ... yes, good) for your cell phone, which, like your car, is also dead. Awe.some. Grab baby from back seat, head back inside to find an old-fashioned land line, call husband at work and interrupt his day so he can drive over and jumpstart your piece of crap Camry ... which the Toyota service people swear has nothing wrong with it, even though this is roughly the sixth time it has died on you in the past two years.

But on a brighter note, MJ conquered preschool just fine. We thought she might be a little apprehensive, but that was before we let her pick out her own pair of tennis shoes last night -- Dora shoes, which are slightly better than Cinderella shoes -- and she couldn't wait to wear them. I was surprised she didn't ask to sleep in them ... that is, when she was sleeping last night, which wasn't for long. (Yes, we're back on that kick again. The mood of our house currently? Tired. What? That's not an actual mood? Yeah, well, we're too tired to have an actual mood.)

She spent several minutes showing off her new shoes before we left the house, and once she entered her new classroom, she plunked herself down at a Play-doh table and never looked back. She honestly did not even look up when I told her goodbye and headed out to my dead Camry. "Later, mom. See you in a few. I'll be hangin' here with my new homies."

Plus, she is CLEARLY already a genius after only one day of school. CLEARLY. At bedtime, she decided she needed to "change the sheets" on her dolly's bed. And because, perhaps I mentioned, I'M TIRED, I tried to persuade her that dolly was already asleep and it would be rude to wake her up in the middle of her dreams. Not that MJ would understand that concept, since she DOESN'T SLEEP.

"Mommy, Dolly not asleep yet," MJ told me.

"Oh yeah, sure she is," I said. "You tucked her in. She's gone to sleep."

"No Mommy," she told me, with a look of concern for my lack of intelligence, "she's not. Look -- her eyes are still open."

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