First Day of Kindergarten

This day seemed to come a lot faster than I expected.  Since recently giving birth to our little babe and noticing similarities between him and his sister at the same stage, the idea that she could be old enough for kindergarten just doesn't seem possible.  An on our actual day, we were dealing with some extra stress and emotion due to Shawn's job.  I don't talk specifically about his job on the blog, so if you don't already know about the situation, you can check my facebook page or email me.  The gist of it is that Daddy had to miss the first day of kindergarten and momma was a bit more teary than usual.  Fortunately, we had a friend come over and stay with the boys while I concentrated on getting her off to school.  That worked out pretty well.

Her nerves started kicking in the night before.  She was worried about knowing the kids in her class, finding her friend from church on the playground during recess, where she would eat her lunch, etc.  I guess she's my child! :-)

I managed to keep it together until I noticed her nervousness in the classroom.  She couldn't seem to find anything interesting to work on.  I was by the door and coat hooks, but she came over to me with tears in her eyes.  That's when I couldn't choke back the tears very well.  There were just so many emotions going on...I was worried about Shawn, wishing he didn't have to miss this moment, and then it's just so hard to see your kids struggle with new things.  Fortunately, I have the peace that for one thing, God is protecting and caring for her--even better than I can do--and she has a great teacher this year.

A few tears fell in the classroom, but I kept thinking of my friend/aunt Megan and her experiences taking her daughters to preschool last year.  So like her, I tried to hide my tears as much as possible in the school and then let it all fly when I got to the car!  I even surprised myself!  I had thought this day would be easy since we did preschool last year.  But there's something about kindergarten and being at school for 5 hours, 5 days a week that feels like such a big step. Bigger than I had realized before this day.  My baby really is growing up.  And even though she's only gone for a few hours (compared to an older student), I really do miss her.  It felt strange to fix lunch for just the little man and myself.  **Seriously, you should see me right now!  I'm tearing up just typing this!  I know...I'm ridiculous!**
Her teacher called my during lunch and told me that she didn't cry much after I left and that she really seemed happy after recess.  I'm sure it was because she saw her friend from church (in the photo below).  I'm glad they have each other for at least recess. 
She was still a little unsure of things at the end of the day.  Not quite as happy as you might expect.  When I asked her why she didn't eat all of her lunch, she got a little upset and said that she didn't have enough time.  And that I gave her too many crackers so all she could eat was her sandwich and crackers!  (Silly momma, what what I thinking!)  Figuring out those new routines can be a bit confusing.  So I explained to her that she didn't have to eat every single bite of each thing before she moved on to the next thing.  That seemed to make sense to her.
The good news is that day 2 went MUCH better.  She wasn't worried or nervous when she got to school and she was much happier when I picked her up--much more like herself.  She even excitedly told me that she had made a new friend from her class.  So it seems we may have had a bumpy start, but things are turning out just fine.

Thank you Lord for watching over my sweet baby girl.  Help her to learn many new things, make good friends, and bless those she's with.