I can't compete

Lydia loves pre-school. I did not take a "first day of school" picture as I should have, but I will take a "3rd day of school" picture on Monday. Lydia only goes on Monday and Tuesday, but every day this week she has grabbed her Dora backpack and asked to go to school. I really don't know too much about what she has actually done. She doesn't say much. (Hence she is a speech intensive pre-school.) I have managed to get out of her that she ate goldfish for snack time and she was able to wash her hands all by herself at the little sink. Tragically, Lydia's first day of pre-school ended in tears. Imagine you are 3, you walk outside after 2 1/2 hours of stimulation with awesome new toys and activities, all with total strangers and then you see your mom. Usually a good thing right? You have all kinds of exciting things to tell the one who has missed you and wondered what you were doing every 10 minutes for the last 2 1/2 hours. But then you see it, the grand finale of the day- a big yellow school bus! There it is! You have watched it pick up the kids in your neighborhood since forever and now that you are finally going to school too, you will embark on this right of passage- the school bus! But alas, Mom is there to take your hand and walk past the school bus. 'What is going on?' Across the parking lot. 'What is our car doing here?' and to the car. At which point 2 1/2 hours of stimulation, not enough goldfish and heart wrenching disappointment culminate to a breakdown- which lasts the 2 miles home and then is temporarily forgotten when our neighbor invites us to play outside.