First Day of Kindergarten

Our sweet little baby girl who cried for at least 7 hours a day for the first 3 months of her life started Kindergarten today.

It seems like just yesterday that I was walking the 2nd floor of our house trying to “sh” her to fall asleep.  Or pacing back in forth in our dark walk in closet because there was nothing to stimulate her in there.

And once she fell asleep?
I couldn’t lay her down.
Because if I did, she’d get mad and start to cry all over again.  I remember breathing a sigh of relief when she finally did fall asleep and willing the time to pass so the day could end.

What was I thinking?!  Willing the time to pass? WILLING it?

Those days are a blur now but I still remember how long they seemed.  Why can’t they feel that long any more?  The hours and days race by and I feel like I never have enough time with her.

Is she learning enough?
Is she playing enough?
Is she using her manners?
Is she thoughtful? Considerate?
Is she challenging herself? Taking risks? Trying to reach higher and further?

Our little girl started Kindergarten this morning.  I think I may have been the only parent who didn’t cry.  I wasn’t sad.  I was excited.  We spent a lot of time deciding on a school to send her to.  I knew she would love it and she did.

She started her day out with her favorite breakfast:  toast.  I tried to make her eggs or pancakes, which we usually eat, but she just wanted plain old toast.  After breakfast, I had her do 2 first day of school projects.  They can both be found on this Pinterest board.

As she was getting dressed she told me she was nervous.  I expected that.  I was nervous a lot with her when she was a baby and that transferred onto her.  I let her know she’d be fine and if she had any questions at all to just ask her teachers.

Then we headed outside to take the same picture on the porch that she’s taken for me for the last 3 years she went to preschool.

This is Kate at 2.  She started going to preschool 1 day a week so that she could have some time to play without her baby sister being there.  She loved it so much we put her in 2 days a week.

This is Kate at 3.  She went to preschool 3 days a week.

This is Kate at 4.  She started out going to preschool 4 days a week but her days and Caroline’s days weren’t the same so I was driving around every day.  I wasn’t ready to give up all the fun things we get to see and do as a family, so we dropped her down to 3 days a week.  It was the best decision.

This was Kate this morning.  At 5 years old.  She wrote her name on the index card at breakfast and sometime this week I’ll laminate it so that we can add them to a binder ring and see how her handwriting has changed from year to year.

She was happy to tell me all about her day over a snack of homemade granola bars when she got home.  We had balloons waiting for her on her chair.

Things that I learned:
She had a great first day.
She’s not nervous to go back tomorrow.
The best part of her day was her teacher.
She’s excited to take care of the pets in her classroom (snakes, hamster, frogs).
Her new friend that sat next to her at lunch ate carrots & hummus too, and they thought that was funny.
She’s happy the classroom has a quiet spot for when she needs to take a break.

This kid?  She owns my heart.

That sweet little baby girl made me a mommy.  Some days it seemed to be more a curse than a blessing as I tried to navigate my way into knowing what the heck I was doing.  She will forever be my experiment baby because with her I tried it all.

Until we both got it right.