First Day of Kindergarten

It's done. We have just dropped off our one and only child for her very first day of school. And it wasn't easy.

Yesterday afternoon, Ms. Linda, Eric and I all had tears in our eyes as we said goodbye and picked up our school-age daughter from Ms. Linda's for the last time. Ms. Linda has been a blessing in so many ways to our little family. She has been the most reliable, dependable, caring and devoted provider for our daughter that I could have ever dreamed of finding. These last four years with Celeste in her care have given us peace of mind and we have grown very close to Ms. Linda and her family. It was hard choking back the tears yesterday, and I almost didn't make it. I can't say enough how much of a blessing Ms. Linda has been to us, and while it's a great thing for Celeste to begin her school years, it's also bittersweet.

Last night, I pressed Celeste's clothes, bleached a tiny rebellious chocolate milk stain out of her shirt, packed her lunch, worked with her on her first homework assignment, and then we all sat down and packed her very first backpack with all of the necessities of the first day of school.

Her first homework assignment was to decorate this cutout with all of her favorite things. She only wanted to color them, she didn't want to use beads or magazine clippings, and the said sandals, a book and a necklace and bracelet were her favorite things (she drew the necklace and bracelet later, in red).

Today began with Mommy and Daddy running around the house like headless chickens, hurriedly preparing Celeste a cooked breakfast while she slept and double and triple-checking the contents of her backpack. It's obvious we are so new to this! Then I picked up my 46-pound daughter out of our extremely tall bed (she sometimes crawls in while we're dead asleep), put her on my shoulder and took her into the living room where we played Rio and set her little table with chocolate milk, a small waffle and some scrambled eggs. After much encouraging, she ate most of the waffle, drank the chocolate milk and barely touched the eggs (much to my dismay). Daddy braided her hair while I blow-dried my own, and then we grabbed our things and ran out the door.

Eric's truck is in the shop, so he's driving an un-tinted car. I followed them in my car, and kept watching her little head bounce up and down excitedly the whole way to the school. It's hard to explain the wave of emotions that I felt this morning.

I remember when that baby girl was too tiny to fit inside her infant carrier without ample support. I remember how that little head needed extra rolled up blankets in the additional infant head support part to keep her head up in the weeks after she was born. All those beautiful white eyelet sundresses, matching hats and tiny sandals. Her cute, dimply and toothless smiles at us both, and her bountiful laughter would fill the house as a baby. I remember feeling soooooo scared the day she rolled herself right off the edge of our bed and onto the carpeted floor, and how angry I was at Eric for raising the bed (as if those 2-3 extra inches mattered) even though she was unharmed. Then there was the time I received a cell phone picture from my father-in-law of my 7-month-old with her tongue hanging out one side, standing on her tiptoes and stretching to get those tiny little fingers on the piano. It was a short week or two later that she began walking; people could hardly believe their eyes that this 7-8 month old was walking so well.

When she was 14 months old, I nervously dropped her off at Ms. Linda's for the first time. I remember crying on the way to work; I felt awful about leaving my baby at a place unfamiliar to her. But then she didn't want to go home when I picked her up, and I knew I'd found a keeper in Ms. Linda.

And now here I was, 4 years and 5 months after that first day at Ms. Linda's, watching my baby girl's curly head bounce up and down excitedly as we took her to her very first day of Kindergarten. Where has the time gone??

Of course, as every typical Mom does, I took photos of our baby as she made her way to her new school for the first time. Here they are... I can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and hear all about her day!!

She has 14 students in her class. It's an all-day kindergarten class, and her buddy, Jude, is in her class! So glad she already has a friend there with her. I think I'm more nervous for her than she is today.

I miss my baby girl today... where has the time gone???