Ready or Not

She is. She has been for over a year. Asking to ride the bus. Asking to turn 5. And even though she is neither of the two, she's officially a kindergartner.

For twenty-four hours, we embraced the whole experience. The night before, she was given a bag of 'Sweet Dreams Confetti' to put under her pillow to help ease any nerves (I may have used some too..) and to give her good luck throughout the year.

Waiting until almost lunch time was torture for her, as she was ready to go as soon as her feet hit the floor.  So I tortured her some more with way too many pictures until it was time to head to school.

We are so thankful for her teacher..she is awesome in every way. As the kids slowly trickled in, she lined them up for a mass photo shoot and finally, we got the whole class of 2025.

The kids went in while the parents stayed. And stayed. We joked (kind of) about how we could just hang out in the parking lot until the end of the day, but then realized how pathetic we looked, so we sadly went our separate ways.  They all had a great day, and with that, we celebrated.

 

Later that night, TOH and I celebrated as well. We did it. We made it through our first day of being kindergarten parents.

 



I thought I was ready and actually made it through an entire week without any tears. But I knew I couldn't last forever. I went to her orientation two days ago and that's when I lost it. I was alone in the car driving home with all of the information the school had provided...register for this, sign up for that, turn in paperwork tomorrow.  I have been on the teacher side of school for ten years and now I'm on the parent side. It's worlds different. She (and we) are now committed to five days a week, 180 days, for the next 13 years. It's frightening. Exciting. Nerve racking. Mysterious.
She could not be happier to finally be where she is. We are thrilled for her and all that is ahead. To see what she has absorbed already is amazing and we're only eight days in. 
As for me, all I can say is that I am so grateful for half-day kindergarten because I need another year to prepare for her being gone all day. 
But ready or not, we're all looking forward to this new chapter in our lives and I am beyond excited that it's a holiday weekend and we have her at home an extra day this week...bring on Thanksgiving break!