Survivor

We have a survivor! Eli made it through her first week of Kindergarten (and so did her mom, haha!) We had such a hard time trying to decide if we were going to put her in school this year or wait a year since her birthday is only 9 days before the cut-off date. Ultimately, we were more concerned with her getting bored next year with school if we waited, and even more bored this year with another year of preschool. We're hoping she proves us right with putting her in now, and we have faith in her that she will do awesome!
She was faced with going to a class where she wouldn't know anyone since we moved away from all her preschool friends. There are four other kids her age in primary that are attending kindergarten this year, one goes to another school, there are 2 in the PM session (both in different classes) and 1 that goes to the AM session with Eli, but is in the other class. (What are the odds that ALL 5 would be in different classes?!) Nevertheless, she was excited to go and make new friends; that's my social butterfly!
We all woke up and got ready for her first day; Sandy even got to go! The school began with sort of an open house for the kindergartners and parents to come in and meet the teacher, see the class room and help their child get settled in. We sat with her for a little while before we could bring ourselves to leave but then that inevitable moment came, we said our "see ya laters" and we left our little girl to attend her first day (I, thankfully, was able to make it out of the building before my tears started). I cannot believe how brave little kids have to be! Here we are, throwing her into a situation no amount of preparation can make you feel ready for, leaving her in a place she's unfamiliar with and with unfamiliar people to top it off. And we expect her to be fine! But she was!! She's done well being away from mom and dad for quite some time now but it still didn't stop me from being concerned she'd get upset at some point like so many of the other kids were in her class. I spent the rest of the morning highly anticipating going to pick her up to hear how she did. When I finally got to it was a happy moment; she enjoyed her first day! I asked her how she did and she about broke my heart when she replied with, "Well, my eyes started to fill up with water but I was brave, Mom!" She wouldn't even allow herself to think she was crying. I borrowed an idea I've heard a few other moms do and made her a little pocket sized heart so when she was nervous or sad all she had to do was check her heart and remember her mom and dad love her. She only had to use it once that day. Here's a couple of pictures of our brave little kindergartner!




I had high hopes the second day would go as well as the first. The hardest part then was how the school starts their day. Maybe this is how it is at most schools now, I dunno, but it's not what I expected for kindergartners I guess. They have all the kids, grades K-5, start out on the playground before school. It was pandemonium that day! Kids were everywhere, some crying, some going nuts with their newly found freedom, and lots of concerned parents (good, I wasn't alone!). I found this to be a bit much mixing them ALL up like that when some were so new and still didn't know how things worked. So, like any over-protective parent would, I opted to stay until the teachers came and took them to class. Apparently there's a bell that rings when it's time to line up with your class, I didn't hear it, and have yet to hear it. But, somehow, some of the kids knew it was time to line up. I watched Eli from a distance; then we "concerned parents" intervened and helped the rest of the kids realize it was time to line up. But then-where do they line up?! Neither of the kindergarten classes seemed to know where to go, but one of the 2 teachers was outside assisting with that so, finally, that was figured out and she was off to her second day of class. The third and fourth day went fairly similar, and by the fourth I was only walking her back to the playground, then leaving. I should have stayed on the fifth day! Friday started as the rest of the days had, I'd left her with a couple of her friends and had just gotten home when my phone rang. The school was trying to get a hold of me because of an accident on the playground; Eli had a monkey bar mishap :'( . Sandy rushed out the door to her rescue but we ended up having her miss the day of school to take her to the dentist! The poor girl knocked some of her top teeth loose! We figured the dentist would just tell us her teeth would fall out anyways and to watch them, but we decided to error on the side of caution, just in case. That's just what he told us though, so she simply ended up with her first absence and a really sore mouth. I was worried this little ordeal would mar the whole school experience and she wouldn't want to go any more but today she proved me wrong. She woke up ready to go, albeit a bit more cautious of the playground. I'm so proud of my little big girl!




P.S. Her teeth are tightening back up-so no toothless smile, yet =)