First Day of School

Tuesday was Victoria's first day of kindergarten. Though she was ready in terms of supplies, I don't know if she was ready mentally. Not that all of her hard work at the charter school for Fantastic 5's didn't pay off last year, it's just that she was enjoying dinking around, especially in the morning.

The day before school, instead of talking about going to see her new teacher we had just met, or seeing the friends she already knew were in her class, or even talking about being nervous, she woke up in an imaginary world of her own.

She woke up early, which I was happy about since she's going to am kinder. I told her to get dressed and eat so she could practice for the next day. She looked at me kind of funny, then proceeded to put on an hour, or so, long production of her "wedding day" including dressing up with a veil and everything! My mom and I even hummed the Wedding March for her, which was the only acknowledgement I gave to her "special day". She even had Karissa as her flower girl. After breakfast, which I forced her to eat, she "gave birth" to Froggie, her baby. The rest of the day she was his mom. Doing all the things she said a good mother would do. She kept asking me if she was a good mother and I kept telling her "sure, but I want you to be a daughter right now and help me with this...."

She was absolutely, totally oblivious to the fact that school was starting the next day, or at least she didn't even care. She was just in this other world, not even interacting much with me or my mom, her BFF, which is very unlike her for at least part of the day.

The next morning when I told her it was time to get up and get dressed, etc., she wasn't very happy. We had an argument about what to wear and of course about moving faster. Last year she wore a uniform, which now I'm wishing she still had to wear one! Her outfit was cute, but she was shivering in the strappy shirt she chose to wear with her short shorts, until I made her put a shirt under the first one.

Here's the first day, once she got warm and could smile again. Here's the second day in front of school, as I forgot to bring the camera to school the first day.

The plus side is, she loves her teacher already and always says how fun her class is, as I'm sure it is since there are more "toys" in it than in her class last year! Also, I love being able to drive there in 5 minutes or walk in 20 minutes, slow pace.

Karissa's first day of preschool was on Wednesday. We are doing an at-home preschool swap with 7 other moms once a week. She was really excited to carry a back-pack and "go to school" even though it was at her friend's house. She got to bring the mystery bag this week and brought her bear Beary in it to share. She is the oldest by a long shot in her group, but I think it will be good for her.