I can't believe my baby is in kindergarten! This past Thursday was Ellie's first day of kindergarten. I do believe it was one of the hardest days of my life (a close 2nd to dropping Ellie off at daycare for the first time when she was 3 months old.) Ellie, however, was beside herself she was so excited. We had open house at the school last Tuesday afternoon. When Ellie and I walked into her classroom for the first time, I had a small meltdown. The teachers kind of kept their distance from me, and I don't blame them. Hopefully, it wasn't the first time they've seen a mama with tears streaming down her face! I quickly dried my tears so that Ellie wouldn't pick up on any of my anxiety. She was mesmerized by the classroom, her spot at the table, and how big the entire building was. (She is attending Westside Elementary, and it is a huge elementary school.) We were both overwhelmed, but we went to visit the lunchroom and look down the hall where the library was. Ellie is super pumped about having a library at school. Tuesday night, the grandparents all came from Tifton and we had a back to school dinner party to celebrate. The next 2 nights would be sleepless ones for me because of being so mentally overwhelmed with this new adventure of Ellie's. I can't imagine what its going to happen to me when she goes off to college!
Thursday morning came and Ellie bounced right out of bed, which is not normal behavior for her. Even Emma was excited and got up quickly to get dressed and have breakfast with Ellie. Ellie hardly ate any breakfast. She told me her tummy felt funny. I told her she was just excited and it would feel better later in the day. Worth was home, so we took the entire family to drop Ellie off at school. Worth parked and I walked her in. (Parents are allowed to walk students in the first 3 days of school.) We got to her room where I snapped a quick picture at the door of her classroom. Ellie then turned around and ran in the room. I went after her and said, "Bye Ellie, I love you!" She just vaguely turned her head to the side with her back to me and said, "bye." I thought I might have a small meltdown then, but I ran into so many mothers in my same position, I felt comforted and certainly not alone. I also saw several screaming Kindergarteners that wouldn't go into their rooms. Thank goodness Ellie didn't do that!
I had a long work day on Thursday, but got off early to make sure I could pick Ellie up from school. I couldn't wait to hear how the first day went. Pick up line was kind of a nightmare, but I heard it gets better after the first week of school. Ellie jumped in the car and said "Mama, I love school, can I go every day?" I thought that was a pretty good reaction to her first day! I asked her what she did, and she told me she couldn't remember. All she remembered is that they ate lunch in the lunchroom and that she didn't get to play the games in gym because I put her in sandals and not athletic shoes. (I had no idea she would have gym that day!) Now we have her weekly schedule and I know how to dress her appropriately! I asked her if she made any new friends and she said "Abby." I was thankful that she found another little girl to hang out with. All her friends that went to Westside were boys. She did great on Friday and hopefully will continue to enjoy school!
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| Grandma and Mia brought balloons for the back to school party.... |
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| The balloons entertained for a while.... |
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| Until it started getting violent and Worth had to step in and take them away. |
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| Eating (not eating) breakfast on her 1st day of kindergarten |
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| Emma thought it was her first day as well |
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| My big girl! |
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| I had to put this one in here, just because of the look on her face! |
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| About to walk in to her new classroom! Very annoyed with me at this point. |
