First Day of Kindergarten

Well.....the day has come.  My first born started her formal education career.  She had been looking forward to this day for a loooong time.  We even made a paper chain to count down the days.  Every morning she would wake up, take off a ring and count the days left.  This past Tuesday was finally the day!  The school supplies were purchased, the lunch was packed and the outfit was picked out.  She woke up in the morning ready to go. 

Her school does staggered entry for Kindergarten.  During the first week of school, the kindergarteners go just one day that week for assessments.  The school then takes the results from the assessments and builds the classes accordingly.  We find out tomorrow (Friday) who her official teacher is and where her official classroom is.  I do like it this way because it sort of eases her in to this new routine rather than BAM, school 5 days a week for 6 and a half hours.  

Drop off went well.  Emma tucked all her belongings in a cubbie and found a table and activity to play while all the other kids came in.   Tim, Molly and I were Emma's entourage during all of this.  Emma did satisfy me and pose for a few pictures, but was really ready to get the day started.  After a quick hug goodbye, we were out the door.  Tim did peek around the corner right after we walked out to see Emma ask another little girl to play and the little girl said "yes".  That's always nice!  ....and no tears from Emma!  That's huge :)

As we were walking out it was very hard for me to hold back the tears.  I sort of hid behind Molly so I wasn't that mom crying after dropping her kid off.   I blame pregnancy hormones....but also the fact that Emma has come SO far.  You all know about the plight of my shy girl.  She's gone from fighting back the tears for most of preschool to all but pushing us out the door on her first day of kindergarten.  And boy is elementary school BIG compared to our little First Baptist Preschool.  Emma was the big cheese at preschool last year.  Now she's back to being the littlest in the school.  I sent my dad Emma's first day of school picture and his response was, "I think you were not so happy about going to kindergarten.". 

I worked that day so Tim got to pick her up.  When she was in preschool, the hours were 9:30-1:30.  Her new school hours are 9:15-3:45.  It was torture waiting until 3:45 to see how her day was.  Tim texted me after he got her and said she had a great day and that I could call if I wanted to.  At that point it was 4 and I was off work in an hour so I figured I would just chat with her about it in person.  When I saw her, she was just like, "Hi mom."...and want about what she was doing.  It's like pulling teeth from this kid to find out about her day.  All I got out of her was that her favorite parts were eating lunch in the cafeteria, playing outside and rest time.  Oh, and that she made friends with two girls and their names were Lizzy and Isabella.  That's it.  That's all I got.  BUT....that's way better than "it was so horrible I just wanted to go home I missed you so much I hate kindergarten".

So....it was a great day.  I'm so thankful!  Now, we will see how she handles a full week.  I have a feeling we will have some early bed times for a bit while her body adjusts to this new schedule.

You've come a long way, baby.  I'm so proud of you!  

First day of Preschool/First day of Kindergarten

Be sure to check back in this Tuesday.  That will be Molly's first day of preschool.....if I can see beyond the tears, I will try to type up a post then and let y'all know how she did.