Claire has been in Kindergarten now for two weeks, and we all love it. It seems like she has grown and blossomed so much in such a short period of time. We used to not get many details about her day, but she loves to tell us what she did and almost always can name at least one person she met that day. She can list almost 2/3 of her 22 person class, which is big for a kid who a couple of weeks ago didn't care that much about learning anyone's name. :)
She has also already picked up skills (or is deciding to show us what she could already do)! She hasn't shown much interest in reading, so I thought she might be a late reader. I'm realizing that she can read a lot more words than she lets on. Now that they are working on sight words and environmental print, she shows me a lot of words that she knows. Her artwork and drawings have been so creative, and she tells me a story to go along with almost each one.
First School Spirit Day
She likes taking her lunch and getting the hot lunch from the cafeteria. Every week we look over the school menu and pick a couple of days for her to buy her lunch. Will and I had lunch with her on the first Friday, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many fresh fruit and vegetable options were provided. The pizza and tacos that I've tried have been okay, too - better than what I remember getting when I ate at my school's cafeteria!
The schedule has taken some getting used to for all of us. Claire was still napping before school started, so she is still pretty tired and either wound up or grumpy (or both) in the afternoons, so I'm trying to keep her busy and get her to bed earlier. She has taken some awesome naps during the weekends to catch up! Both kids are early risers, so I had rarely set an alarm clock for myself, knowing that between them and Robert getting up for work, I would be up before 7 each day. Now that Claire needs to be up by 6:30-6:40, I've started getting up about 6 to get myself ready and gather my thoughts, and I love getting the day started early. We try to leave the house around 7:15-7:20 to give her plenty of time to meet her class in the gym before they walk together to class and get settled by the 7:40 late bell.
For the first couple of weeks, I walked her into school. I planned to do it for as long as she wanted. It was a bit of a production - get both kids out of the car, walk across the school driveway, go into the office to sign in and get a name tag (there is a strict visitor policy, which I love), walk her to the gym or to her class (depending on the time), walk back out with Will (who usually had to make a dramatic scene as we left the school - the holding out his hand while looking back longingly and moaning for his sister lasted several days, although lessened in duration), get him back in the car, and drive off. After the first week she wanted to walk in by herself, so we practiced a couple of times, letting her walk a few paces in front of Will & me to make sure she (really, "I") was comfortable with knowing where to go.
On Thursday, we both felt confident that she would be fine, so I let her off in the drop off line. She loved having an older girl from the safety patrol help her out of the van and with putting on her backpack, and she ran off, not even looking back. I felt another ache in my heart watching her go, but it just reminded me that there will be many moments like this as we raise her and help her develop into an adult. Knowing when to let go is part of the process.
(And I also quickly realized that the drop off line is significantly faster and easier for all of us!)
