We have been awaiting this day since the middle of February, when Steve and I decided to enroll Kayleigh. She has worked so hard to be ready to go to school, that I was pretty sure she was NEVER going to sleep last night. She FINALLY drifted off somewhere around 11:30 p.m.!!! She woke up several times in the middle of the night, for various reasons, and was up and out of her room by 7:35 a.m. She opened the door, peaked her cute blonde head out the door and said, "Is it time to go to the bagel restaurant yet??" I had fully intended to make my big pre-schooler a fun "first day of school" breakfast. I bought all of the ingredients for oven french toast and was ready to go when Steve said, "Kristi, she's not going to eat that ..." And sadly, he's probably right. My little girl's idea of a special breakfast is "chocolate toast" (or Nutella). A cinnamon sugar bagel is about as close to a "special" meal as she will eat, let alone on a day as exciting as this ... So, I sniffled a bit and decided that Daddy was right ... Big Apple it would be.
We got Kayleigh all dressed in her new "first day" outfit, put her backpack on her and took a BUNCH of pictures before leaving.
The whole ensemble ...
With her Mommy, who let Daddy go to school ... (It killed me to stay at home, but let's be real, I'll be able to visit/drop her off much more often than he will, so, it was his day ...)
After breakfast, Kayleigh and Daddy took off while Mommy and Benjamin went home. I found it difficult to occupy my time because I kept watching the clock, wondering what they'd be doing at each moment. I tried to focus on playing with Benjamin, who wanted NOTHING to do with me. Instead, he searched every nook and cranny of the house looking for "Yayeigh" when he couldn't find her, he resigned himself to sulking in a chair with his bears. I finally found him so pathetic, that I turned on a Mickey for him and let him sulk in peace while I reorganized a closet :). While we were at home having that adventure, here's a few "winners" that Daddy took at school.
Yup, pretty much have tears flowing while looking at that big girl ...
I imagine she was saying something like, "Daddy, just one more picture. I have to color one more thing."
Clearly Mommy has failed in teaching her how to use safety scissors, oops ...
Making her handprint with Maestra Gonzales.
Her locker (or, more accurately, her locker "neighbor" ... ). I'm sure she'll figure it out soon enough.
According to Daddy, she had 2 1/2 meltdowns throughout the 1 hour she was there. One Daddy claimed as his own fault. The other, well, let's just say we're going to practice going quietly to circle time when Maestra says so and not crying because we can't play with toys anymore.
All in all, we're excited for our year and so so thankful that Kalamazoo Christian Elementary has adopted the Spanish Immersion program through add.a.lingua. We're thrilled about the possibilities for Kayleigh, and are excited to watch her emerge from elementary school, bilingual. Here's to an exciting year.
