Nico's first day went pretty well on the drop off.
When we got there, Nico was highly aware of my presence and didn't let me get more than a foot away. I sat down by a box of toys that Kumi set out for Nico and he sat down on my lap and explored these new toys. Hanna came over and talked to Nico and got toys out for him to play with from the toy box. Mostly the toys were trucks and buses.
After about 10 minutes, the Montessori kids left the room with Kumi and Hanna and Yani started talking to Nico. Eventually, Yani asked me if I was leaving Nico there this morning and I took the hint and started gathering up my coat. I was about 5 feet away and Nico frantically crawled over to me and started crying a little and demanded to be picked up. I picked him up and talked to him about how Mama was going to pick him up and he was going to stay with all his new friends in this room (about 5 kids stayed in the room).
Yani came over and I handed Nico to her and he really started crying. I gathered my stuff and walked out to the hallway where I stayed out of sight but in hearing distance. I had to wait about a minute before I could hear him stop crying and then I could see that he was still in Yani's arms and pointing to various things around the room. I knew he was fine and I walked back home.