Kate's First Day of Kindergarten (said loudly, like a car commercial)...
Thankfully, I did most of my crying in the days prior to the start of the school year. And let me tell you, I cried me a river (and then some). There were a few tears the morning of the big day, but I hid in the office briefly until they passed, and my sweet girl was none the wiser.
Mostly, she was excited. Because it's KINDERGARTEN (said loudly, like a car commercial)...
We had to do some last minute shopping in the morning (Kate goes to afternoon Kindergarten), so we made a quick trip to Staples in search of the ever elusive Ticonderoga fat, primary pencils that were on her school supply list. Yes...I was still searching for them mere hours before the start of her first day. And yes...I found them! Yay, me (and thanks, Sheila, for the suggestion)!
There was also a little discussion about whether or not she should put a sock or a mitten in her pencil box (as the school supply list said that she could use either one as a white board eraser). She wanted a brand new mitten (which, just so happens to be very difficult to find in August). I gave her a cool sock. She cried and told me that everyone would laugh at her if she put a sock on her hand. So we picked out an old mitten, shoved it in the box and she was happy!
She had a new dress, thanks to Grammy (who took her on her first back to school shopping extravaganza the week before). On said extravaganza, Kate picked out three dresses, a necklace, a bracelet, and her first book bag.
She got dressed quickly, proudly posed for pictures, and was thrilled to jump in the car and head on her way to KINDERGARTEN (loudly, like a car commercial, remember?).
We got there and I could tell she was a little nervous. We found her cubby (which was unmarked without her name tag on it...a little snafu to the start of the day, which she seemed to handle well). She sat down with an apprehensive look on her face (even though she was seated directly across from her friend Colin...the first boy she ever kissed. And hopefully the last until she's 20 something).
I took some more pictures, told her it would be a great day and I couldn't wait to hear all about it, and I calmly walked out the door...leaving my baby girl in the hands of a woman I had barely met. But I didn't cry. I talked with some other parents for awhile and then I headed home to bake the much loved and highly anticipated after school snack...blueberry muffins. I had a little helper. She was great (and very sad that she couldn't go to Kindergarten). Poor Ellie said that it isn't fun to hang out with just me, even though we played Pretty, Pretty Princess and baked muffins. It kind of hurt my feelings.
And then Steve arrived with first-day of school balloons (which, by the way, are not dorky...all the cool kids get balloons on the first day of school! Right? Tell me I'm right!). I stood by the window for 20 minutes watching for the bus and then we made the long trek (all 40 feet or so) to the bus stop, camera and balloons in hand.
As the bus approached, I snapped a few pictures for posterity and waited anxiously for my girl to get off the bus when the doors opened.
Except...she wasn't on the bus. It's the first day of school and my girl was not on the bus. I thought I might need to be resucitated right there. But instead, I ran up the bus steps and said, "Where is she????" Thankfully, our fabulous bus driver made a few calls and we found her within a minute or two. My girl was still at the school, because her teacher thought she was a car rider. There were a few tears when we picked her up, but only because she really, really wanted to ride the big bus (I think she had been looking forward to that part of Kindergarten most of all!
The day was filled with so many emotions. I was so proud of Kate. She was excited and nervous and she was so brave. My girl is growing up...and I'm just praying that she knows how much we love her, how special she truly is!
Day #2: Getting off the bus...finally! Woo Hoo!
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