Ella's First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we survived it, truth be told we did even better than that. Here is Ella in the outfit she wanted to wear on her first day of school. I was very brave and let her choose her own clothes, and in case anyone wants to know, the sparkly white sneakers from Walmart are tons more sparkly than the ones at Payless! Can you tell she felt confident? (credit for this pose goes to her tap teacher, who taught her well, Hiya Ginger!)
We walked her to the courtyard outside of her classroom and waited for her teacher to give her a name tag. Once she was properly tagged, I gave her a kiss, told I was proud of her and told her I would be back to pick her up. The teacher asked the children to line up, and so Ella walked right to her spot so that she would be ready to go in.
I had some supplies (tissue, wet-wipes, etc.) to donate for classroom use, but I was waiting for the teacher to take care of all the students first before I asked where to put them.

This is a picture of Ella right before she said (and I quote)
"What are you still doing here?"
Liana and Nina and I watched her go into the class, left our bags of supplies inside the door and then went to a PTA welcome where we ate donuts and signed up to help with a craft fair near Holiday time. We left to make our umpteenth trip to the pediatrician's office to take care of the millionth form so that Ella can have all the medicines she needs available in case some peanut sneaks into campus.
We made it back to school right on time to wait for Ella to emerge triumphant from her classroom, here she is, exiting the gate where she had to raise her hand when she saw her mom and shake hands with the teacher before she could leave.
And finally here is our girl, mission accomplished, she played with Hula Hoops during recess, colored a raccoon, and survived snack time, what more could I ask for?
Aren't you proud of me? I didn't even cry!

Letting go a little bit

For those of you who have sent your first child to Kindergarten for the first time already, you know pretty much what I've been feeling this last week, If your child has a potentially life-threatening allergy then you might know exactly what I've been feeling this last week.

From the first time Ella had her first reaction to Peanut Butter at 15 months of age, I have not let down my guard very much, I've tried to stay relaxed, tried not to stress the things I can't control, but I have controlled the things I can pretty strictly. By paying attention to my instincts, (and by that I mean the promptings of the Spirit as well as my own logic etc.) we have managed to keep her alive and thriving and ready to go to Kindergarten.

She is anxious to get there, to be helpful to the teacher, to teach the other kids how to tie their shoes, to bring about World Peace in a day. I am anxious for her to go, anticipating the freedom that one less body, however small, allows on grocery shopping days etc.

I am also terrified, the two times she has had to receive emergency medical attention were both times I wasn't with her. In both cases, I guess it could have been me, I can be flaky with the best of them, I forget things all the time, but it is a testament to the gifts of intuition that come with motherhood that she hasn't had more reactions. So you can imagine that the prospect of her leaving my care, even for a few hours a day, gave me some anxiety.

If you are feeling anxious along with me right now I encourage you to take a deep breath and let it go, let it all go!

We met with the school nurse and Ella's new teacher last Friday, and I am breathing much more freely now. The Nurse was kind and direct and helped me to see that as food allergies have become more prominent they are used to dealing with all the precautions and remedies associated with the issues. The nurse was great, but surprisingly, the greatest relief came from a few simple words uttered by the teacher, who said "My son has a peanut allergy too." She is used to reading labels, scouting a group of children for signs and smells of PB, washing and wiping down tables and chairs, and though I am still preparing Ella in every way I can, I am no longer feeling the dread of letting her go.

This isn't the closest school to our home, it isn't technically even our school district (though only by a block or so) but for a variety of reasons we applied for and received a transfer for her to go to her new Elementary school. We were told that another Kindergarten teacher there was "the best teacher I have ever known, in any grade" and so of course I hoped that Ella would be assigned to that teacher. Thankfully I do not control the universe and now, when I cry a little tomorrow morning as I send Ella into class, it will only be the usual neurosis of a parent sending their little one off to the world.

Fancy Nancy's new friends

Recently my baby Brother (who is of course all grown up with a job and stuff) gave my girls the best gift I think you could give a kid, BOOKS!!!!!

To be precise, he gave them each a book from the "Fancy Nancy" series, which if you don't know about, you should.

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/harperchildrens/kids/gamesandcontests/features/fancynancy/default.aspx

They address the issues that many girls age 3-16 are faced with, specifically, family members who are not fancy enough. It seems my daughters have taken these stories to heart and their lives have become tres bon, which is of course a fancy way of saying fabulous.

This is how fancy girls get ready for bed,
These fancy girls are also patriotic,
Ella's Primary teacher has even gotten into the act, she made this masterpiece for Ella,
C'est Magnifique, Non?

As part of the Library's Summer reading program Liana and Ella each got a raffle ticket which they could choose to put in a drawing box for different prizes. Raffles for small children are a little bit cruel, Ella and several other children asked when it would be their turn to win. Liana actually won a prize much desired among the 3-5 year old girls, however, her best friend, who had entered for the same prize, cried copiously and hysterically when she did not have the same luck. There were many sad children coming home from the Library that day, but this was Liana... If you wipe away the chocolate cake, her butterfly glasses make her look a little like Fancy Nancy herself.

Even Nina has become a little fancy, her hair is growing in and if you fluff it just right after her tub, she looks like this:

And if fancy hair isn't enough to get her on the fancy list, how do you like this action? At almost nine months she has realized she is capable of climbing stairs, of course, as a lady of leisure she likes to stop and sit to rest a minute and that is where she falls victim to the laws of gravity, so even with the safety gate she isn't allowed to play unescorted in the living room, what could be fancier than round the clock body guards?

Here's hoping you all get a little fancy in your lives soon!