First Day

When we first moved down here, my SIL came to visit us. As we passed the school in our neighborhood, she asked if that was where Elle would go to school. I remember laughing to myself as I looked at my 4 month old baby, and telling her that we wouldn't be living here by the time she would be old enough to go to school. Well, the 2 years we planned on living here came and went. We're still here 5 years later and Elle is (can you believe it) old enough to go to that school.

Elle is so ready to start Kindergarten, but it still is hard to let our little girl grow-up. As many of you know, I have been VERY concerned with Elle starting at the school in our neighborhood. We live in a great neighborhood, but apparently the school district we live in includes many not so great neighborhoods. Any way, I found out that they have all these silly rules--one being a dress code. So unlike all the other little girls in the world who got to wear the cutest, sparkliest, most kitty adorned clothes to the first day of school, Elle had to leave all her guns, and knives, and chains at home, and settle for a dress code approved denim dress with bike shorts underneath as per the code.:) (I'm actually amazed that Denim is an approved fabric.)


Elle was so excited for her first day! We on the other hand had a horrible night. Zander was up with a hurting ear and a fever and I think we got about 3 hours of sleep. I did manage to pull myself off the couch to make special "puffy pancakes" for breakfast.
The picture is kind of fuzzy because my camera lens fogged up. Got to love the humidity!

Yes, that is my old Game Boy. This girl is seriously addicted to playing video games. Even the 2 min. car ride over required getting in game time. It is a great bargaining tool though!

Here is Elle's class and her teacher Mrs. Parker. We got to "Meet the Teacher" last week where many of my fears were put to rest. Elle's teacher seems great and she also gets to have a student teacher, Mrs. Applewhite, until December. There was an older girl who was helping her little sister get situated and she ran right up to Mrs. P and gave her a great big hug. So I think that means that people have enjoyed her in the past, right? Any way, we had to cut our visit short because Zander started spewing--quite the first impression.

Notice Elle's fabulous clear back-pack. You never know what a dangerous Kindergartener will be bringing to school. Again, one of the best things about getting to go to school is picking out a cool back pack. My heart was crushed when I told Elle she couldn't have the cute Tinkerbelle one with wings. But she does love her backpack. It is pink with sparkles embedded in the plastic.

Jed traded some hours of work so he could be there to take Elle to her first day. We felt like the over protective parents, but realized there were several other families escorting their kids to class and taking pictures. I'm so glad Elle got into Trooper School last year. I think it totally helped the seperation anxiety. I gave her hugs "goodbye" and left. Not a single tear. Zander on the other hand was very concerned. He is saying, "Where Elle go?"

And in only the short ride home, Zander was completely upset that Elle was not next to him in her buckles.

That is when a tear started trickling down my face. I felt this overwhelming feeling of love that my little guy has for his sister. It reminded me of a dear friend from High School who just lost her five year old son to a brain tumor earlier this year. Her son and daughter were the best of friends and when he died, her daughter was completely lost without him. She said it was one of the hardest things to bear. And when Zander was so upset to not have his sister around, I completely understood that love he has for her. Zander and Elle are the best of buds and how would he handle her being gone all day?

Zander didn't have too much time to miss his sister. We took Jed into work so he wouldn't have to ride the bus in to downtown and then headed to the Doctor to Zander's ear checked. Sure enough, full blown ear infection. I'm beginning to think that Zander is feeling neglected and Elle is getting all the attention with her starting school; barfing the night we meet the teacher and an ear infection her first day :) Hmmm...hope this doesn't last!

By the time we left the Dr.,picked up the perscription and did some grocery shopping, it was time to pick up Elle. She is going to be riding the bus home, but I thought I would pick her up the first day. There was a bit of confussion as to where I was suppose to meet her, but we finally figured it out. I'm happy to say that Elle was very excited to see me and Zander nearly jumped out of my arms when she came out the door. The first thing she told me was that I needed to put on lipstick and kiss her hand. What??? After asking some clarifying questions, I figured out that they had read The Kissing Hand. It's a book about a Raccoon that is nervous to start school. So his mom kisses the palm of his hand and told him when he was lonely for her he could put his hand on his cheek and feel the warmth of her heart.

Elle had traced her hand on a piece of paper and her homework was to have her Mom put on lipstick and kiss the palm of the paper hand, cut out the hand, and send it back to school so it could be taped to her cubby. This would help her if she became lonely or missed her in the coming days.

We actually own the book, so for Family Home Evening we read it and kissed each others hands. This activity also brought tears to my eyes. I miss my little girl so much when she is gone. Maybe I need to trace my hand and have her kiss it, and tape it to the refrigerator so that when I miss her, I can touch the hand and feel the warmth of her little heart.