First Day of Kinder

Drop off went great. She was so excited and had been waiting for this day for a long time. So she walked in, got her supplies set up at her cubby, was shown to her chair, looked around, had a brief look of apprehension, but then started playing with the activity on the table. The bell rang, we blew kisses, she waved goodbye- no problems. And I was fine too!

Got a call mid-day from Mrs Sewell saying that Alli was at lunch, was having a good morning and was a very good listener! That was comforting!

I was so excited to pick her up and couldn't wait to hear how her day went- I just imagined she would be bubbling with excitement about everything that had happened at her new big girl school. But as I was waiting in the car line to pick her up, I noticed lots of other parents walking up to the school and I started to worry a little. Was I supposed to park and go in to get her. I was never real clear on the whole pick up process. I mean I know it is okay to wait in the car line to get her but will I be the only kinder parent who does that especially on the first day? Is she going to be the last little kinder student waiting and wondering when HER mom is going to get there? TJ is asleep in his car seat at this point, so there is no changing my mind about this. I'm not going to park, wake him up and walk, so I'm just sitting, waiting and wishing the cars in front of me would start moving...soon please!!! They finally do and we slooowly make our way up. I finally get her in the car, her hair is all messed up and she has a very sad look on her face.

When asked what was wrong, she said "I'm tiiiired" in a very long, drawn out voice.

Some of her other responses about her first day of kinder:

"There are a lot of rules."

"My mind is all out of order because I've been doing so many things."

Not exactly the reaction I was looking forward to. She was in a pretty rotten mood for a couple hours after that and opted to skip gymnastics which I obviously did not object to. But once she did perk up she acted out school all evening. She was the teacher and she marched us around the house to all the different rooms- PE, recess, art class, etc. She really liked PE :-) and can't wait to get to go to art class.

I learned that she earned 2 chips and when she gets to 10, she gets a treasure box prize. Clap....Clap....Clap.Clap.Clap means eyes on the teacher, criss-cross applesauce and hands in your lap. She made a friend but couldn't remember her name and told me that one boy was being bad everywhere they went (I'm thinking that might be the poor little boy that was bawling at drop off time). I explained to her that he might be missing his mom and is not used to kindergarten yet.

Fast forward to day 2:

This morning, we are supposed to drop off in the cafeteria and not in the classroom. Well, Alli didn't believe me and was mad when I was going the "wrong" way. I told her that Mrs. Sewell would come pick her and all her classmates up from their table, and she got all upset saying she wanted me to pick her up. She lined up with the class when Mrs Sewell came but then started crying and came back over to me and started clinging to me (Oh no, please no). A lump is forming in my throat. Thankfully the principal came over to hold her hand and offered to let Alli wear her bracelet. I quickly made my exit at that point, but hid outside the door to look through the window and make sure she wasn't crying as they walked down the hall- thankfully she wasn't.

She was in a much better mood when I picked her up day 2. And yes, I walked up this time even though it was a little rainy. She had informed me that she wanted me to meet her on the walkway, so it could have been pouring and I still would have been walking up to be waiting for her when she came out.

It's going to take some adjusting for all of us (we are slaves to the school calendar now), but I think this is all going to work out! Life is changing and it's taking us out of our comfort zone but I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us.