First Day of Kindergarten

August came and went! I have about 17 blog posts to write on August alone!

But today- TODAY was the first day of kindergarten! The real thing! And we were nervous and proud. Mostly proud.

Leading up to it- all summer- our little school lover adamently said she was not going to kindergarten. Change isn't something that Seren really embraces. She even said that last night, "I"m just not going to go."

I knew she was just nervous. And she amazed me by being really articulate about how she was feeling. "Well. I'm a little excited and a little scared." Then, as the day, today, got closer she would say, "Well, I'm a little excited and a lot scared!"

We had Kindergarten orientation last Monday. Which was totally disappointing. The classroom wasn't ready. The cubbies weren't labeled. The teacher wasn't very inspiring as she focused on the logistics and not the learning that would happen. She also didn't address the amazing group of excited little kids sitting in her classroom! The teachers are also on the verge of a strike. So there were teachers picketing the Kindergarten orientation.

Sigh.

Today, she slept in and woke up excited! And we loaded her back pack with about 2 pounds of requested materials (including clorox wipes, kleenex, pencils, snack, erasers, etc!) and headed out. We took the mandatory first day of school pictures which I totally remember my mom taking. And we set off, as a family, for the school. It is about an 8 block walk to the school. So all we went. The backpack got heavy, however, and I had to help with that. Once I put it on my back she exclaimed, "Now I can skip, Mom!"

Wyeth has been quite sad about this transition. He doesn't understand why he isn't going!

"I no go to Kindergarten? Why I no go?" and "Sissy go everyday? Why she go everyday!"

So while this really is just a 3 hour program 9 blocks away, we are all being thrown by the transition a little bit. For all of July and August, Wyeth and Seren have hung out pretty much every single day. So Wyeth too is missing his buddy.

I was more than a bit emotional getting her ready. And just like the day of orientation, the closer we got to the school building, the tigher her grip on my hand got. But when the moment came, we slid on her bag and hugged her tight. A wonderful and warm teacher greeted us at the door and said "You look beautiful in your dress! Are you ready for kindergarten!? Who is your teacher?" And with tight hugs, we said goodbye. And she walked down the hallway holding a teacher's hand.

Just like that.

NICU to Kindergarten in seconds flat. Non nursing preemie to reading kindergartener. I couldn't be more proud of who she was but also what we have done as parents. For this learning curve of parenthood has been steep.

She left down the hallway and mom bawled.

But they were happy tears too. Life is just too amazing. Too hard to really wrap your head around. Too many changes. Too many choices. And all of it- even the really hard times- is amazing.