A terrible day 2

Today was S’ second day at school and the first day without her parents around. I dropped her off at the door at nine and she immediately started crying. The assistant teacher took her inside where the other children of her playgroup were and asked me to wait outside with the other parents. I felt extremely sad to let her go inside the school crying but they were quite insistent that parents were not allowed in and I guess she would also need to get adjusted to the place.
After some time I moved to the back of the school premises where we could hear the children from the window, but could not see them. I could hear S howling loudly, her cries much louder and longer than the others. Then the teacher came out and informed us that some children had stopped crying and some were still crying. I paced up and down from the main front door, eagerly awaiting for more information on my S and to the back of the school to listen if S was still howling. Sadly, S kept up the howling throughout and I thought my heart would break when I heard her shouting “nahin nahin (no no)” and mama and howling even more. Another mother told me to relax and this was expected, and while I had expected S to cry a bit, I surely did not think it would be for 45 mins non stop- that’s the most she’s ever howled, except the day when her first tooth came out. I also reminded the teachers to call me if S threw up, she has the habit of throwing up whenever she cries too much and I was worried about this as well.
Finally the teacher came out and said they were letting the children who were crying the most out while the others could continue outside. And who should be out first but S herself- she was sobbing while she came out and clung to me continuously after. Some other kids also came out crying loudly and their parents looked as distressed as I felt. But I believe the other kids had been ok for some time and then started crying on seeing others cry, unlike S who cried continuously. I wonder if this is because she is youngest in the class, and others may have known what to expect while she could not understand what was happening.
S was very clingy all the way home and even cried when I left for office- usually she does not do this as she is quite comfortable with the maids but I guess she was feeling insecure today after I left her in a strange room with new people. When I went back home for lunch also she clung to me and would not leave my lap even when I was eating.Keeping fingers crossed that S settles down at school and enjoys the experience. Am feeling bad for pushing her into playschool at such an early age- she is only 161/2 months old and I think most children are between 11/2 to 21/2 years of age when they go to playschool. The reason I am sending her so early is that I would prefer her to spend some time in playschool in the company of children of her age, learning new things and enjoying herself rather than being only with the maids for 9-10 hours a day. I know it is selfish of me, since I’m doing this to feel less guilty about working and being away from S, but I will not push her too much if she continues to cry/be unsettled. As of now my timeline is a week to 10 days and if things are not working out, I will seriously consider pulling her out and enrolling her for the next later batch