There will be bigger hallways and bigger kids.
There will be new sounds, new friends and new teachers
whose names might sound scary at first.
She'll line up, look back and file inside and at that moment
you'll realize this is your first day of school too.
(and if this sounds familiar it's because I stole it from a Children's Place ad..... it all too perfectly sums up my day today.)
So this was the moment I have been both looking forward to and dreading since the day she was born. And even though she is the big sister, the big helper, the BIG girl in our house -- she never seemed smaller in her entire life as she did today.
I went to the school during lunch to visit with her, to check in on her (and mostly to bring her a lunch because I could not make up my mind this morning before we left for school if she is going to be the kid that buys lunches or brings from home) and for reasons I'll explain below I should not have done this. It took everything I had inside me to let her go and to not stay by her side to protect her from the mean kid in the lunch line that kept poking her in the face (true story... and I about punched him in the nose, too).
Apparently my being there and then her having to leave me after lunch playtime sent her into an emotional, exhausted breakdown. When I came to pick her up after school the teacher - very politely - asked me not to come to lunch any more.... well at least not for the next 4 weeks or so. Once Sam got back into the classroom with the rest of the kids she was still very, very upset and upon seeing Sam's reaction a massive wave of crying kindergartners all wanting their mommy's began. Yep, that's right... I've got the kid that can make all other kids cry! I could only imagine what that scene was like... a teacher and an aide trying to calm down a class of kids all crying and whimpering for their moms. So yeah, I'm not wanted back for quite sometime... at least until everyone is settled into school.
But, what's a first day of school without a mini-photo shoot...
this is her showing how excited she is to go to school...
Her best friend Emily!!!
This is Sam pointing to the school in the background at Emily's house.
Thanks to Emily who lives across the street from the school, the girls can walk together each day.
And of course little Brooke wanted a piece of the action... she truly looks up to and adores her big sister... and her big sister's cool friend!
And last but not least a few video clips smashed into one little movie.
(By the way... that's oreo cookie around Brooke's mouth at the end of this clip... no I do not let my daughter eat dirt :-)