Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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!


7 comments:

Emmie said...

Hooray for Ella! I cannot believe she is old enough to go to kindergarten. Sounds like you both got through the first day like champs. (But were you wearing sparkly white sneakers, too?)

I'm proud of both of you.

Rhonda said...

Ella looks darling and brilliant! I'm sure she will be right up in the top of her class.
Thanks for reminding me of what goes through a Mom's mind on the first day of school. For me it was more significant with the LAST child than the first. Somehow it was the beginning of the ending. I was very sad when Scott graduated from High School and I knew I wouldn't have that experience again.
Enjoy the journey!
Rhonda

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to both of you. Looks to be a very smooth day.

Anonymous said...

you may not have cried, but I just about did! Be happy you get to drive her to school...next year we face the bus and kindergarten at one time...unless we move, heeheehee...

Good job, two more to go!
mary

Stewarts said...

I love the dancer pose! Way to go Ella! You are going to love it there! The hula hoops rock! If you are lucky you might spot the cute rabbit that likes to eat the clover in the kinder area this year.

Debbie said...

I had heard the stories of kindergartners getting a little shy on their first day, and have prepared myself twice now. Both times, my kids had similar reactions to Ella, and I wondered if the confidence was a good thing or a reflection on some bad parenting moment. The afterwards always let me know we did a good thing because my girls came home their first days very excited to tell me all about it. Good job Mom on raising a confident little 5 year old! Here's to a great first school year experience.

Ginger Rogers said...

LOVE the "Toe dig" pose! That was too fun to read! :) Totally made me smile! Oh, I miss Ella! She really lights up a room! WOW>>>>>>> she's in school! Hello???? Where does the time go? What a crack up...."Why are you still here?" She is sooooooo funny! I love your girls! :)