The First Day of Kindergarten

I survived, Emma survived, we all survived.  It was such a weird day, but it was exciting too!  We started off our weekend by hanging out with Brittany and Kayla.  We wanted to have one last LONG day at the lake before starting school but Mother Nature decided to let it rain instead!  So the kids played inside all day saturday and once the rain let up, we headed to CJ's to get our favorite soft-serve ice cream, where ironically we had only been one other time this summer and it was last week! 

So now Sunday was upon us, the day that I had now been dreading.  Ughhh... I thought I was excited for her to start school, apparently I was not ready.  We went to church, then to Target, then headed home where we hung out while Hannah napped, then we spent a few hours at the pool.  It hit me at the pool that this was no normal day for us where we would head home, make dinner, watch some tv, lounge around, go to bed and do it all again in the morning.  Nope.  I would be waking Emma up bright and early to GO TO SCHOOL in the morning.  That was such a weird feeling, I couldn't even really think about what it would feel like to do it.  Once we headed home and got changed I started making dinner and decided to pack her lunch and that was enough to throw me over the edge.  I lost it over a packed lunch! This event we had been counting down to from what felt like forever ago had finally arrived and it was all becoming too much for me to handle!
(But she got a good lunch once I pulled it together)

She went to bed without a hitch because she woke at 645 Sunday morning, so she was pretty tired that night.  She barely wanted me to read her a story.  Thankfully she got up pretty easily, probably because of the excitement, we'll see how long that lasts!  After a quick shower (if only I could shower that quickly!), she got dressed, I made her pancakes (the frozen kind, I didn't wake earlier enough for homemade, give me some time!), but she only ate one, so thankfully I made her a giant lunch because I'm pretty sure she was ravenous by lunch! I dried her hair, brushed her teeth and we headed out to take pictures.  Her bus driver was about 15-20 minutes late and I'm so glad she didn't want to eat breakfast at school because she wouldn't have been able to today!  I was fine and dandy; I took some pictures with her, played tic-tac-toe with her with some chalk, went over a few more rules and manners and made sure she knew her bus number.  Then the bus turned the corner and those tears decided it was time to show up! I held it together long enough to get a picture of her walking to the bus and once she got on and to ask the bus driver if we needed to walk down to another stop with another group of kids, but once those doors closed and the bus took off and I turned around I was a goner!  Matt asked me if I was ok and assured me she was coming home and I responded, "I hope so!".  I think the hardest part for me was the letting go part.  I wasn't there to hold her hand anymore or help her along anymore.  I just had to let - go and that was sooooooooooooo hard for me!   I really thought I would be OK.  She goes to her dad's and is gone for days and I usually look forward to the break.  I do miss her and love when she comes back and we get back into a routine and plan things for us to do all together, but I guess it's different.  This was a big step, she is growing up.  Now she'll be in school until she graduates and I have to start letting go. 

But I did let go and it was hard but she had a GREAT time.  I thought about her ALL day.  I kept wondering what she was doing at different times of the day.  I wondered if she thought about me or missed me or Hannah.  I wondered if she behaved or if any of the manners or rules I taught her paid off or if she gave the teacher the same sass she gives me.  I wanted to drive to the school and just look.  I told her I would come eat lunch with her but she doesn't want me too.  I think I will anyway!  Hannah and I ran some errands today and came back in time to get her off the bus.  She jumped off the bus and gave me one of THE biggest hugs she has ever given me, it was SOOOOO nice, I loved it and made me feel so good.  I guess she missed me a little :)  I asked her about her day and the first thing she said was "We had science", I guess she was amazed!  Her favorite thing today was circle time, they read a story about a girl in a red dress.  And she played outside and said she showed everyone that she can do the monkey bars.  Throughout the evening she kept telling me these amazing and inredble facts like, "did you know they have a cafeteria?" or "did you know they even have a library?", you can fill in the same "did you know" with any part of the school, she was fascinated to say the least.  She was exhausted shortly after she got home.  After she ravenously ate more, she fell asleep on the couch!  It was a big day for my big girl!

She told me about some of the kids in her class.  She is very social and talks to just about anyone.  As soon as she got on the bus she sat on the first seat behind the bus driver and immediately began talking to the little girl next to her.  She said it was her "best friend".  (Don't worry Brittany, Kayla will always be her BFF!) She makes friends very easily and I don't really worry about that part of school, thank goodness!

So we do it all again tomorrow.  I wonder if I'll cry again tomorrow or the next day or if I got it all out today. I had a few people call to see how either I did or how she did and it really meant a lot and I was surprised by 2 of the phone calls.  It's was a big day and not just for her, but it was for me too!  Hannah did surprisingly well too.  I was too overcome with emotion to see what she did when Emma got on the bus (Matt was holding Hannah) and she was playing in the yard when I walked to the mailbox to get Emma, but throughout the day she was fine, so that is a good thing! But the first day is over, all the excitement and worries.  Time for reality and lunches, baths, stories and bedtime!