Hi there! Thanks for the responses! I learned last year with DD that the best thing was to stay calm, reassure her that I'd be back, let her push me out the door if she'd cooperate and walk away while she screamed, which is miserable (although she is always picked up/comforted by a teacher). Sometimes I read her a quick book, but if she just sniffled through that, I would eliminate that, too-- which I've done now. So what I'm doing now is walking away from my screaming child (or passing my screaming child to a teacher) after telling her I love her and I'll be back and letting her push me out the door if she'll do it.
My DH dropped her off today so I could get a break, and she did the same thing to him. She is an intense kid in general.
When I pick her up in the afternoon, she is all smiles, hugs the teachers, bounces around chattering about the other kids (again, very social), so I have to believe I'm not doing her permanent damage by walking away. It's very hard to do. She also doesn't like transitions in general, and is frequently not happy when I take her outside after picking her up and tell her it's time to leave school. Teachers have commented in both schools that she sometimes didn't like school routine changes, but adapted better when she became familiar with the environment/routine/got more confident.
