First Day of School

I woke up this morning at 7am to the sound of my alarm clock. The bus was to come at 7:50, so I would have plenty of time to get Claire dressed, fed and ready for her first day. As soon as I sat up in bed, Claire came bounding in, already dresses and ready to go. After breakfast, fixing her hair, some cartoons and a morning family prayer, she was ready to go. She went outside at 7:45 to wait in our back yard, where the bus would come. Claire was angry when the bus didn't come right away. I had tried to tell her that we were early, the bus would probably be a little late since it's the first day and to be patient, but it all fell on deaf ears. We kept having to tell her to stand away from the road since there were cars driving by with people on their way to work. We were joined by our neighbors, a 2nd grader and her Dad. The bus was old news to them, but I had my camera out, taking pictures. After all, the first child's first day of Kindergarten only happens once. So the bus came and went, no tears were shed, and everyone was happy! The only one distraught was William because he wanted to get on the "bussy" too.

While Claire was gone (it was a short day, only two hours of school), William either followed me around or wanted to be held. I think he's going to be lonely without his pal, Claire. We went to water the garden while we waited for Claire to arrive and William got a hold of the hose when I went to turn it off. He began washing his toy cars and soaked himself. He also managed to soak my shorts. When the bus pulled up to our driveway, William started calling out "Quare! Quare!" (how he pronounces "Claire") very excitedly. He was glad to have her home. She was happy and had lots to tell me. We looked at the papers she brought home; the first of many, I'm sure. Then she put on her swimsuit and joined William out on the deck for some water fun. William chased Claire around the deck, hosing her completely down. He got me too while trying to take pictures. Some of the pictures I'm including were taken from the safety of the dining room.



We then had lunch, Claire and I made chocolate chip cookies, we ate a lot of cookies and then took a short nap on the couch while watching SpongeBob. Dinner was next (chicken, pasta salad, green beans, and leftover biscuits); it was moderately successful. Then came some playtime, bath time, and bed time. It was a fun and busy day. I'm so glad that we live in a place that has a good school for my little girl. School can be so scary and awful sometimes. I feel bad I have to put her through it, but it's necessary and it has its good points. Those first few years were a lot of fun. I hope she always enjoys learning, even when school gets stressful down the road.