Just Your Typical First Day of Kindergarten

It was such a bigger, better, crazier, sadder day than I had anticipated! Sophia has been going to preschool for a couple of years, so the whole handing your child off to someone else thing was pretty cool with me. But no, it was really so different today.

Sophia popped out of bed this morning and said "Mom, you are NOT going to believe this! I'm FIVE years old, and I'm going to KINDERGARTEN!" and I said "No way!" and she said "IT'S TRUE!" *big huge grin on her face*

Then after a big breakfast, she got dressed in her uniform and she went and stood in front of the mirror smiling for about five minutes. She had been waiting and waiting to wear her uniform for weeks. Then she came out of her room *big huge grin on her face* and said "Hi Daddy!"

We got to school, and I could tell, she was a little tiny bit nervous and a lot excited.

But she found her hook on the wall and hung up her backpack

and she marched right into that classroom and sat down in her spot, and Miss Theresa sat down beside her

Sophia looked up at me *big huge grin on her face* with just a teeeeny look of worry. I gave her a kiss, then kissed the palm of her hand, so if she needed a kiss later she could put it on her cheek, and she said "bye!"

I turned around smiling, took one step outside of her classroom and looked back (that was my mistake) - she looked SO big and grown up in there, with her little jumper and her ponytail and she didn't even look back at me, and I BURST into tears. My friend Miss Kelly teaches pre-K and her classroom is right next to Miss Theresa's, she was standing in her doorway and she gave me a big hug. And as I walked to the cafeteria for a new parent orientation, I ran into five more friends, and every time I did I said, "five years just went by so fast," and started crying again.

After orientation I rushed to work and was busy, busy. I thought everything was fine. I was over being sad, but I couldn't wait to see her. Well, then... I got in the carpool line and saw this

Those precious uniformed kiddos with backpacks on, marching in their little line, they looked so cute and so BIG - I started again with the crying. But only for a second. Because then, Sophia got in the car *BIG huge grin on her face*

And she said "AWESOME."

My friend Michele, whose kids are a little older, gave me one piece of advice about having kids in school: "Have FOOD in the car." She said, "they get in the car and are immediately starving and there's not even time to go down to Sonic, they need something right away!" So I was prepared, and she was right!

I heard all about circle time and chapel and Spanish and playground and eating in the cafeteria and how Sophia (who has taken maybe 3 naps TOTAL in the past 3 years) took an hour long nap. She talked a mile a minute! I'm so happy that is already making new friends - she said "Claire and I are best friends. Do you want to know how we became friends? After chapel we just looked at each other, and then we started doing all the same things like twins, and we've been friends ever since." Not only is that so adorable, but I'm super jazzed because I love Claire's mom and I was hoping they would be friends!

And I have never seen Sophia more confident and proud.

Even though I got the mom pleeeeeeease stop with the pictures look.

But then, I heard about how everyone had a blanket and pillow with their nap mat except Sophia and one other girl, and she had to have one immediately. So I decided it would be easier and cheaper just to make her a nap mat cover with blanket and pillow... but we went to the fabric store and spent $50 on materials and at 10:30 tonight my dining room table looks like this

Sophia brought home a book from the school library, and after giving us all a lecture about how we shouldn't color in books, shouldn't drop books, mustn't rip up books, shouldn't eat while reading books, and (are you ready?) shouldn't sneeze on books (!) we read her library book after dinner and bath. And then she CRASHED. And I started sewing.