Enter: Real School

My first babe has entered real-everyday- all-day school. Granted, it's pre-k4, but it's at a big neighborhood elementary school and it feels like she just entered kindergarten. We couldn't be happier.
  For the long version of how I felt about entering this Real School Phase of life, read below.

 Standing in front of our rent house just a few blocks away from our New Old House, which I'm very ready to be living in. We've still got a couple of months.

She woke up when she heard my feet hit the floor, ran to me with the biggest excited smile, and then jumped in her collared shirt and plaid jumper. Didn't even complain about brushing her hair this morning!

They have the best PTA ever. They had cute burlap banners strung and Starbucks coffee waiting on coffee lovers like my husband. WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TODAY! Happy birthday, wonderful super husband:)

He says having a bday so close to the first day of school was the pits. Is the pits. I can finally see why.

 Meeting her sweet teacher. Check out that wide smile. 

The familiar ECERS procedures. Must wash hands often, including when you first walk in to the room. 

So thankful for familiar friends from Dance and St. Marks.

Wish this friend was repeating pre-k4:)

So pretty, especially with my crazy charlie in the foreground. 

This beautiful 100 year old school seems like just the right fit for us. It's filled with the familiar faces of our kind neighbors. It's a school that is set up much like the school I taught in for 5 years. Same type of instruction, similar schedule, but with tons more parent involvement. I'd like to say I'm excited about doing 'room mom' duties and PTA stuff, but I'd really like to put my ole whistle around my neck (yes, I've kept it:) and be the one signaling students to line up after recess. I want to dig through my pile of carefully collected trade books and read the stories to them using my teacher voices to those eager ears and wide eyes. Oh, how I'd love to. But not for now. My job now is to be this girl's momma. 

I'm enjoying the classroom from this perspective. Glad I'm not having to grade papers after I put the kids down. I don't miss stressing over administering the district's newest assessment to all 20+ of my students while we are all in the same room. There are so so many tough parts of being a teacher. I must remember that! I also don't want to be that parent that makes teachers run the other way. I remember those parents all too well. And y'all all know I have a tendency to share my opinions and I have lots of opinions about teaching. SOoO, I'll be keeping my lips closed as much as I can. 

Enough of my reflections on teaching.

How did Annette do?

She was happy as a lark when I left her at her little table next to Sam and Eli. 

And when I came to pick her up, she started crying  loudly saying to please let her stay. So, I think it was a success. Her first day of real school. 

Her favorite part was playing with the dress up clothes and the clothes line. She said she wanted to eat the school lunch instead of my packed one. That will make my job a lot easier. 

I miss her of course. When I was at the grocery store with my two boys, I kept thinking....I need to have a daughter with me. This doesn't feel right: me and boys. It's usually 'us girls' to balance out the boys.  I should have a sign that says, We have a big sister in our family, she's just at school. 

But mostly I'm excited for her. She is such a confident leader with extreme amounts of energy. She loves a challenge and is ultra eager to learn. The perfect child for school. 

We will encounter something this year that won't seem quite right, I'm certain. But these first couple days have been such a blessing. 

Happy first week of school!

~Morgan