First day of school

Eleanor has started "school" this week (Montessori preschool), and so far she seems to love it. She only goes two days a week for about 5 hours, which is enough time for her to get to spend some time around other kids, learn the routines of school and how to follow directions and listen to the teacher, cooperate, share, and all those important skills. It's also enough time for us to get some sleep after work.
I'm starting to think that quality preschool or mother's day out is good for most stay at home kids a couple of days a week, but for different reasons for different kids. For some kids, it's good because they need to learn to be in a new place with new people, and begin to conquer some of their fears of change and new things. For others, it's good because they need practice following directions, sharing, being considerate of others, and occasionally sitting quietly and focusing. Eleanor falls strongly in the second group.
The night before her first day, probably ten co-workers asked me if I thought I would cry when I dropped her off. I said "only if she does," silently thinking "there's no way my girl is going to cry when she leaves me to go to a place full of toys, books, and a child-height sink (she loves washing hands)." I was right. She did not shed a tear and seemed pretty enthused actually, so I didn't either.
We watched her through a two way mirror for about the first thirty minutes, and here is how she spent that time:
First, she walked in and approached a much bigger boy and stole his sippy cup. He didn't want to let it go, so there was a little bit of a tussle, and she won. The teacher got involved and took the sippy cup, then when she went to comfort the crying boy, Eleanor tried to take it again. When that didn't work, she rounded up two other kids and they followed her across the room where she began to show them how to take posters off the wall. When the teacher caught her that time, she took a break and snuggled a teddy bear.
Next was story time, which she loves at home, and you could just see her excitement. However there was a bit of a problem. At home, Eleanor turns the pages of the book while we read. It's our routine. At school, it seems the teacher likes to turn her own pages (understandably). Eleanor really struggled with that. Each time the teacher went to turn a page, Eleanor jumped up from her place and ran to the teacher to help her, and the teacher would send her back to sit down with the other kids. E didn't seem upset, just confused - I imagine her thinking "what is wrong with this lady? did her mother not teach her how to read books properly?"
At the end of the day, we were rested but Eleanor was not. At school they sleep on nap mats and not in cribs, which is a big change for her so she only slept for an hour. Her teacher says that's about normal and they settle in quickly :)