My big little kids

There's no getting around it- my kids are growing up. My Mom's post from yesterday reminded me that no matter how much we want to or how hard we try, we can't stop time from moving forward and bringing with it changes. I admit that I've been apprehensive about Pyper starting school for some time. I mean, that's a BIG milestone! But I think that soon I'll get past the sadness of the reality that my firstborn is now spending some of her days away from home and pay more attention to the excitement of starting this new phase with her.
In the past Kindergartners have gone to school Monday-Friday for half the day, either for morning or afternoon class. This year her school has decided to do something different. In order to save on busing, they're sending some kids Tuesdays and Thursdays all day, and some kids Wednesdays and Fridays all day, then having them switch off on Mondays. Pyper is on the Tuesday/Thursday schedule. Weird, right? That means she's only going to school like 10 days a month. She's only been twice (today is her third day) and she's been coming home exhausted. Bless her heart, I'm glad she gets a break about every other day.

Her friend Ella from right next door is in the same class. They sit near each other, so I'm a little worried about how much chatting they'll be tempted to do. But it's nice that Pyper already knew someone.

Aaron went to work late so we could all drive Pyper to school (they don't bus Kindergartners the first week). We all walked her in to the room and Ella immediately took her by the hand and showed her around. We'd already seen the classroom a couple of nights before at Meet the Teacher night, but I thought it was cute that Pyper let her lead her around anyway.

Hakan also started school on Thursday- Preschool! 3 other moms and I have formed a co-op preschool group and I took the first turn teaching. Hakan was pretty bummed when I told him that preschool would be at our house the first time. He looked around and held up his arms saying, "This is NOT a preschool!" I guess I thought he understood that we'd be doing preschool the same way we had for Pyper. He cheered up when I told him that he'd get to be my big helper, though.

We had a great first day. Hakan is by far the youngest, and quite honestly I was expecting some pretty major chaos. But they all did their work and played well and listened when they were supposed to. We actually got done about 15 minutes earlier than I'd planned because things went so smoothly!

That night I decided to make a "Celebration cake" for everyone's big day. Aaron had gotten some really good news about work (more on that later) and with the kids starting school I thought we should have something special. The kids knew I was baking a cake, but they didn't know it would look like this inside!



When I uncovered it I did a big "Ta-da!!" and when all they saw was a plain white frosted cake, they were obviously disappointed. It was funny. But pulling out that first rainbow colored slice got the reaction I wanted. :)

Then Pyper got up in the morning and spent the next few hours throwing it up. *sigh

Yesterday we had another first- riding the bus. The stop isn't far from the house, so me, Pyper and the boys walked down with our neighbor and her 3 girls.





I don't even know if Pyper looked at me again once she was on the bus. I couldn't see her anymore. But I was proud of myself for not crying like I thought I would. I didn't cry when we left her in the classroom on her first day, either. If I'd been alone I probably would have, but having other people around keeps me from turning into a bawl baby.

Last night on my way to bed I checked on Pyper and found her crying in her room. She'd had a bad dream, and when I finally got her calmed down a little she told us that she dreamed she was alone on the bus. Guess her first bus ride was a little subconsciously traumatic.

All in all, she's had some really good experiences so far. It's going to take some adjusting for me, but she's been so excited about this for so long that I don't expect her to have much trouble.