My first born is 5!

She's sassy, shy, bossy, girly, rule following, loving, silly, and smart, all rolled into one perfect 5 year old!

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I have lots to share about Kindergarten, but that will have to wait for another day...stay tuned.

My wonderful grandma of 8 years sent me this sweet note - made my day!

Your feelings are so beautiful...and so part of Motherhood.  Yesterday Greg started kindergarten, and now, all of a sudden, next year he will turn 60.  In between there are so many incredible memories that I will never lose, nor want to discard.  So..welcome to this wild merry go round.  You are doing such a beautiful job, as is Jason, that is will go on forever. And Jericho will follow, and then Amelie, and who knows who else.  But your heart will grow and quiver and grow and quiver with each day.  And if you are blessed, some day will have grandchildren and great grandchildren to watch and be amazed by what you see.  And so I wish you, Mother of Blythe, Happy Birthday Mom.

My First Kindergartener

6:00am I am woken up by Jericho who is so excited about Kindergarten she somehow woke up an hour earlier than she normally does.  I threw her in the middle of the bed and told her I still had 15 minutes before the alarm went off.  That 15 minutes felt like only 2 minutes as the wind chimes signaled that dreaded first day was here and yes I was forced to get out of the bed before 7am.  I walked into Blythe's room, gave her a gentle tap and whispered, "It's time, the first day of Kindergarten has arrived."  She sat up bright eyed and bushy tailed and quickly went to the kitchen table for breakfast just like we had rehearsed.  She excitedly ate breakfast and remembered all the things she needed to do to get ready without being prompted!  Within 20 minutes she was ready to go and asking if it was time to load the car.  I told her I needed a few First Day of School Pictures by the front door before we left, and she obliged.  Everyone needed a first day of school picture with Blythe!



 










We took a little too much time taking pictures with Blythe and were in the car loaded and pulling out at 7:11am, crap..I wanted to leave by 7am.  If you know me, you know that the easiest way to instantly stress me out is to make me feel like I am going to be late.  I had to give myself a little pep talk "It's the first day, it is not worth stressing about, when you stress you get short and impatient and that is not the Mommy you want to be on the first day."  Luckily it worked and I went with the theory that they weren't going to mark us tardy on the first day and I didn't even know that we would technically be late.  We pulled up to the school just before 7:30.  Jason un-buckled Jericho and Blythe as I quickly changed Amelie out of her jammies and into a clean diaper, yes I took Amelie in on the first day in just a diaper because she wet through her clothes and I put her straight from the bed into the car seat.  As we were walking into the school building the first bell rang, signaling school would start in 10 minutes.  My heart was racing as we were walking at child's pace across the long lot and after saying hurry up, walk faster several times, I reminded myself, relax this is supposed to be an enjoyable moment, we will get there when we get there.  That worked for Blythe's pace, but I scooped Jericho up so we could walk beside Blythe.

 

We had time for a quick picture in front of the classroom, and then we walked in and Mrs. Price greeted Blythe with, "Buenos Dias," and Blythe looked down shyly.  Mrs. Price showed Blythe were to hang her school bag and where to place her lunch box, then Blythe walked to her chair.  Just as I was snapping a quick picture of Blythe at her desk the final bell rang, signaling it was time for my departure.  I quickly told Blythe goodbye, that she would have so much fun, and I would see her soon.  As I was saying these words I got a little teary eyed, but no tears fell (YEAH ME).  I quickly kissed her and walked out of the classroom, I did a quick look back, but all I could see was the top of her head.  Somehow I put on my big girl panties that morning and managed to bid Blythe farewell on her first day of Kindergarten without shedding a tear.









We kept ourselves busy with a run for mom, a morning nap for Amelie, gymnastics class for Jericho, lunch, then a quick afternoon nap before pick-up.  We were told that they would let the kids out early the first week of school so we arrived in plenty of time to be at the crosswalk when Blythe arrived.  Perhaps we arrived a little too early.  We expected Blythe to be at the crosswalk by 2:45, and at 2:50 we still weren't seeing any kids.  I began to get nervous and second guess my decision, what was I thinking having my Kindergartener walk to the crosswalk?  This was a horrible idea?  Luckily I had on sunglasses and I was able to wipe my tears before they fell below the shades.  Jericho kept asking me where Blythe was and why she wasn't here yet.  You could see worry on her precious face.  Suddenly the car lines started to move and there was a wave of big kids that came to the cross walk, then another wave, both the moms that were there when we arrived had already collected their children and had gone.  Tear my heart out and stomp on it.  Worst.  Feeling.  EVER!  Then finally in the distance I saw little people slowly walking down the sidewalk, and I spotted her!

 



My tears of worry and sadness quickly turned into tears of joy.  I couldn't get that girl in my arms fast enough and when I did I squeezed her and hugged her and kissed her, you would have thought I hadn't seen her in a year!  But I'm new at this, at this whole leave your kid for a full day, let them be independent, but I'll get better, in time.

Meet The Teacher

Blythe was very excited to meet the teacher and I wanted to be excited with her, but honestly, I was apprehensive.  I got a little teary eyed as we drove to the school, but no real tear shed. 

Blythe was paying close attention during the campus tour we had last April because she was able to lead Daddy straight to the Kindergartener wing.  I knew we were in one of two classrooms because there are only two dual language classes at this campus, what I didn't know was that the classroom lists were posted on the cafeteria window which was on the other side of the campus.  Luckily we poked our head into the first dual language room we came to and it was the right classroom.  First sigh of relief, we got the teacher I was secretly hoping for, mainly because she has been at this school and teaching for several years; where as, the other teacher was going to be new this year because they had enough Spanish speakers to need two dual language classes.  Mrs. Price greeted Blythe with a big smile and a warm hello, to which Blythe responded with her shy response of: tuck chin into left shoulder ihiding her shy smile while her eyes dart to the right side to take her in.  Blythe quickly found her name on the desk and headed to the back of the classroom to check it out...all the while Jericho was at her heels ready to do anything and everything Blythe did.  The girls were able to explore the classroom for a bit before the official meeting began. 



My mommy heart was so happy to see her sitting on the carpet, taking in everything that Mrs. Price had to say.  I tried not to think about all the hours she would be spending on this carpet over the next year without me, but some times the brain has a mind of its own and wanders where it shouldn't.

 





Everything was going so well, I was beginning to feel more at ease, more in line with Blythe who was tickled pink to be starting school and couldn't wait for the first day to arrive...until the announcement of the drop off and pick-up options.  Mrs. Price announced that we will only be allowed to walk our children to the classroom door the first day, after that we can walk them to the gym through the first week, then no parents allowed inside the gate.  My honest reaction:  WHAT?? Is this a jail?  I can't walk my kid to school??  a gate, seriously?  I have to drop my baby off at the gym on the second day and just hope and pray she makes it to her classroom?  Then next week I have to drop her off behind the gate and hope she makes it to her classroom??  BREATH...  right about that time Jason turned to look at me and said "if we weren't doing the dual language thing, we would be bailing right about now," I nodded in agreement.



Then she get's to the pick-up options which are 1) drive through the line on street A 2) drive through the line on street B or 3) have your child walk to the community center catty corner from the school.  I took the advice of the mom sitting next to me and went with option 3 as she explained to me that the drive through lines are a mad house and you  can then only exit one direction.



My heart sunk as I filled out the obligatory: "How will your child be picked up on the first day and How will your child be picked up for the rest of the school year."  I was expecting to pick her up from her classroom or at least at the drive through place on foot where I could communicate with the teacher or her to me if needed..nope, that's old school apparently.  



I can't say I left meet the teacher feeling excited and ready to go, but I can say that I was excited about Mrs. Price, I was excited there are only 17 kids in Blythe's class instead of the 23 I thought there might be, and I am excited that Blythe is excited and ready because it is all about her.

The first day is just around the corner...

A Hot Mess

I am a hot mess as I close this last Wednesday of summer and think about the meet the teacher day tomorrow.  How on earth is my first born 5?  I had 5 long years that turned into 5 way too short, way too fast years.  I'm not ready to open this next chapter in our life.  This week I had good intentions of starting the new bedtime routine, my initial goal was to get them in bed by 8:30 for three nights then 8:00.  I have FAILED miserably, 10pm, 8:43, 9:05, and 9:23pm.  This whole school thing already seems to be putting a damper on our life.  The strict bedtime, waking up to an alarm is just not our style.  I wanted to be a stay at home mom because I wanted to raise our kids, not have them raised by someone else.  Why does this mentality suddenly change because she is 5 and eligible for Kindergarten?  Neither Jason or I have ever been home school minded but as we see the major changes that need to happen in our family routine its hard not to think "why are we doing this?"  Why are we committing ourselves to being somewhere by 7:30am 5 days a week? 

Luckily, we know better than to voice these thoughts to Blythe and she is SO excited and SO ready for Kindergarten.  She has her new backpack and her lunch box, and she soon will have her school supplies.  She has said several days this week, "I can't wait for Kindergarten to start."  Thank goodness Blythe is ready and excited because that keeps me going, moving forwards allowing that voice of reason to step in and say 'she's got this, she's ready, she will blossom.'  Strangely enough the fact that we have decided to put Blythe in the dual language program where 90% of her day will be in Spanish is not what makes me apprehensive.  No, I already spent a solid 3 months having that debate with myself, to do it or not to do it, and I am still 100% on board with that decision. 

My issues boil down to 3 main things:

1) the commitment - 5 days a week drop off at 7:30, pick-up at 2:40, in bed by 8:30, wake up by 6:30
2) handing my child over to someone else for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, that's 35 hours!
3) public school expectations of a 5 year old - sitting still for long periods of time and homework..seriously at 5, after you have had them for 7 hours?

Hopefully I come home tomorrow uber impressed with our Kindergarten teacher and all my apprehensions fly out the window.  But for now its bedtime so I can make the most of these last few full days with my beautiful Blythe.