oh the places she'll go. like. eventually off to college! but tomorrow, we start with the BIG K!

and Friday, we met her teacher. and she got into the program we were hoping for! it's called "Project Friends" and it's the multi-age program i spoke of here- so she will be in the same class from kindergarten through second grade and have homework starting in K! i am so very excited for her, and got choked up standing outside the school doors as they posted the class listings.


i had no idea i would feel anything at all and up until that moment honestly felt this day was a bit of a hassle. cuz i'm one of those moms that didn't want to spend her friday with a lot of strangers making small talk. but then, there her name was, first on that list, under Mrs. S... and damn if mom didn't shed a tear and my heart didn't grow 3 times its normal size! (AND i met some really awesome parents and moms!)

baby is off to big girl school. holy sh*t people. yes, i believe this calls for some language.

E was less excited. this was a really, really tough day for her. and tomorrow hasn't even arrived yet.






(disclaimer: i promise we aren't crazy cruel parents that snapped photo after photo of their distraught child- believe it or not, it means something to her to look at these). that 3rd photo in the cafeteria was an hour into our stay. by then, it was less about her being upset, and more about control, which we have been working on with her. our stipulation (after our initial 30-45 minutes of holding and consoling) was that she had to calm herself before we would start heading home. she pushed through her fear (and her tears, and her anger! god i love when this kid gets mad, it's just not something we see enough! she needs to express this, and i was so thankful to see her unleash a little of it!)- yes, screaming and whipping that chair away from me in the photo below. sometimes picture taking will bring a little smirk through her tears (as you see in that first photo). this time, it brought the temper- so after this pic, i put the camera down and got down on the floor with my girl. no pics again until we were outside smiling :)

and she DID leave smiling BIG. (heh. mabye because of that glowing sign that promised an exit in red, but hey, she was smiling after all, and back to her natural giggly self- and came into that pretty much on her own with only our gentle but firm guidance and support).

she's tough. she is surrounded by so much love. not just from us. countless kids came up and spoke to her or (tried) to hug her, telling her how much fun she would have in kindergarten. one little boy in her class promised to be her friend. he remembered how scared he was last year.

i give her a week, maybe 2, before she's rattling off everyone's name, raving about her teacher and no doubt attempting to direct traffic in that room.

that's my girl. she bursts through shining when the rain clears.