First Day of School!

Yesterday was Anna's first day of school and it went great!

Anna likes to sleep in. She always has. And me staying home with her and all, I've always let her. But no more! She probably would have slept till 9:00 had I not woke her up at 7:30 yesterday morning. It took her a few minutes to get out of bed, but once she was up, she was up.

We sat her down to a bowl of granola and some raspberries (from the bush out back! It's been a great year for raspberries in the Piggy household). She ate some raspberries and a couple bites of granola. I suppose the lack of appetite was either from waking up too early or maybe nerves (though she didn't seem nervous at all).

After getting ready to go, we all drove to the school. Jen was able to start work a bit late so she could come, too.

Anna's teacher came outside to gather all the kids and greet more as they come. She immediately recognized Anna and called her by name, even though she'd only met her once (the ability to do this is one of the many mystical teacher superpowers, in my opinion).

Anna's friend and neighbor Sophia showed up a few minutes later and they were happy to see each other. Anna is, by chance, in the same classroom as Sophia and also her friend Cameron. Montessori schools combine pre-K and Kindergarten into one class. Sophia is an "old friend" and Anna and Cameron are considered "new friends."

So the two girls hung out for a while and then another old friend walked up to Sophia and they started talking and, kids being kids, Anna wasn't introduced. (I don't remember ever introducing anyone until I was in my twenties. I still forget to do it all the time.)

So Anna stood there and listened to the girls talk, and after a while there were a couple more girls and they all talked and Anna still stood there, listening, digging the sole of her left shoe into the sidewalk, working the stress and anxiety out with her feet.

After a couple minutes she walked back to me, took my hand and pulled me toward the group of girls. I hung back and let her hold my hand. Then her grip loosened bit by bit until she let go of me. About a minute later she ran up, hugged my leg for a second and ran back to the group without the aid of my hand.

Next, she just looked around for me, saw I was taking a picture and smiled.

Then they got into a line and the teacher led them into the school.

Jen and I said bye, have fun. Liam whined a bit because he couldn't follow them into the school.

About four hours later, her bus pulled up to our house and she got off, all smiles.





Today was her second day. She woke up by herself at 7:00, had a full bowl of oatmeal and was ready to go a full 45 minutes early.

The teacher met them outside again. Anna was clingy until Sophia showed up. Then they started to goof around. Anna noticed a girl wearing her backpack on her front, so Anna tried it out and laughed. Her and Sophia bumped bellies like two sumo wrestlers. Then they got in line and went inside.

Later that day, her bus pulled up to our house and she got off, all smiles.

So far, so good!