Well the first day of school has come and gone. Eleanor is officially a Kindergartener! Her school split up the Kindergarteners alphabetically by last name and had a small group go each day of the week so they could ease them into things, do some assessments in order to put together well rounded classrooms, and get them used to rules and routines in smaller groups. Eleanor's assigned day was Thursday.
We had done a trial run of getting ready for school each morning that week so she would feel more confident about her big day. She picked our her outfit the night before and was really excited to go. Thursday morning finally came and she had some hesitations about her outfit
choice, so she tried a few more and finally settled on her butterfly
shirt and rainbow tutu skirt! She also insisted on two ponytails, just like the girl on the target commercial going to school :)
She was cool and calm and excited as can be.
I was feeling excited for Eleanor and not too emotional until Andrew sent me some pictures of him dropping her off. She looked terrified! And I suddenly felt so nervous for her and wanted to run to her rescue. But Andrew assured me she would be fine and the teacher walking her down the hall was super friendly.
She made it home, safe and sound, on the school bus. She told me she was nervous there were no seat belts on the bus so she held on really tight! As I watched her get off that school bus I almost didn't recognize her. It was like she had grown up in just those 7 hours away from us. I asked her about her day and tried to get some details out of her but she said she wanted to wait for dad so she'd only have to tell us once. Smart girl.
On Friday night all the Kindergarteners came back to school to find out who their teacher would be and to have a little bit of an orientation for parents.
Eleanor's teacher is Ms. Archibald. She is from England and has a
lovely accent. Luckily all that Peppa Pig Eleanor watches will come in
handy and she'll be used to her teacher's accent ;)
Ms. Archibald and Eleanor
When we went up to Ms. Archibald to take a picture and introduce ourselves, she gave me a great big hug and in her lovely accent said something like, "Thank you so much for smiling at me! Even as teachers we get nervous meeting all the parents. You were in the audience paying attention and smiling at me. It was brilliant!" Maybe I'm just the eager beaver new kindergarten mom but I was excited to be there and listen to all that would be going on in Eleanor's classroom. And I even enjoyed filling out all that paperwork. I know, I'm crazy.
Eleanor and Teacher's Assistant, Mrs. Sumner, who has a nice thick southern accent. Can't wait to hear which accent Eleanor will pick up.
It is so strange to have Eleanor away from us all day. She has basically been right next to me everyday for the past 6 years. I know it's so
good for her to be at school and to learn, and be challenged, and have
more opportunities to express her creativity, and learn more
independence. I'm not gonna lie, it has made life a little easier only having 2 kids at home. When Eleanor is at home she is always coming
up with new ideas and projects and games and activities she wants to
do. Which usually results in lots and lots of messes and things
waaaaaaay out of place. With just Penelope and Molly at home, things
pretty much stay clean all day. The only place they really play and
make messes is in the playroom, which is fine by me!
Despite how happy I might sound about having a clean house, I really do miss having her around. She is such a good helper, and so creative and I love to watch how her brain works. It's sad to think that the phase of my life with having all my kids right next to me all the time is over. This is just the beginning for us. She started this year, Penelope will be next year, then it will be Molly, and the years will just continue to slip away from us! Makes me kinda teary just thinking about it! BUT I'm excited for all the new adventures that are ahead of her and all the friends she'll make and all that she'll learn and all the experiences she'll have!
**Note to self: after seeing the obviously better quality of real camera pictures compared to iphone pics, I propose we break out the real one more often!
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