First Day of School 2014!

Well Back to School happened this week. Notably different than past years because little Miss Emma got to join in the fun!

Emma is going to Preschool 2 afternoons a week and she has been excited about this day for months! If you asked her at any point this summer if she was going to go to preschool, she would lift up her dress and point to her panties and say, "I'm wearing panties now, not diapers. I get to go to SCHOOL!" Wow. I know. Just wow. 

 

 

 Daddy brought Emma up to school (that's right . . . her preschool is at Magdalen. I can spy on her whenever I want!) Thursday afternoon and she skipped and jumped her way into the building. 

She did not want any help or even to have her hand held on the way down to the room. Someone thinks she is a big girl.

 

 One we made it to her classroom, she found her little nametag and would not let Mommy or Daddy help her put her things away.

 

She was doing so well - she was excited about the play-doh her teacher had waiting for her and saying hi to everyone.  Things started to go downhill when the teacher asked everyone to head to the carpet for a story. A couple of kiddos were starting to cry because they realized their parents were going to leave. This is normal. They are only 3 &4. However, Emma interpreted this as meaning the other kids must know something she didn't . . . Why are they crying? What is going to happen? Maybe I should be crying, too?

And during the story, she kept getting up to come back to us and give hugs and kisses. 

When it was time to say goodbye she reached Full Alert Mode. The other kids who had been crying were now wailing and it just had her spooked. The teacher had to hold her while Paul and I made a quick dash for the hallway. 

I peaked in only once (Once! Aren't you so proud of me?), I also had some pictures sent to me from another teacher when the kiddos were outside her room. 

When Em bounced back down to my classroom at the end of the day, she was so happy! She loved her first day, her teacher, her uniform. Loved it all. And I sighed - I was so happy for her, but a little sad that she didn't need me to help her. 

 

 We celebrated Emma's first day of Preschool, Lexi's first full day of 1st grade, and Mommy's first full day (with no break - 8 1/2 hours straight!) the best way we know how - Sonic drinks after school!

These pictures were taken about 4 minutes apart.

Emma slept the whole way home and for over an hour on the couch.

But she's ready to go back. I'm not sure how to tell her she only goes to school 2 afternoons a week.

Lexi's First Day of 1st Grade

Lexi had mixed feelings about starting 1st grade. She was excited because she got the teacher she wanted and her friends in her class. She was nervous about missing her Kindergarten teacher and she thought she wasn't a good enough reader to be in 1st grade. 

*She reads well, considering she is only 6. She just has a hard time with phonics and when some of the other kids read better/faster than her, she takes it really personally.  :( 

She said she was "Nerv-a-cited" (nervous and excited). 

I think that is a fantastic way to describe how we all feel on the first day of school.

She's still worried about getting in trouble for talking (that's a real struggle for her), but otherwise the report back was good - she likes her teacher, likes being with her friends, and getting to see Mommy during school Mass.