Holly started kindergarten on August 31st. It was so hard for her to wait a whole week after everyone else had started school, as the district here in our area has kindergarten start a week after all the other grades. I don't understand it, Im sure they have a reason that I won't agree with. Once it was her day to go to school, she was so excited. I was anticipating a melt down once we got to the room and the reality of mommy leaving her there with strangers set in, but, no. She took to school like a duck to water.
I had prepared her with the same kind of "the whole story" that I had done for church. I drew a map of her school, with all the rooms, including the classroom where Myleigh would be. We went through the day from how Mommy and Holly will first take Myleigh to school, we will wave goodbye and come back home. Holly will play and watch her shows, and then have lunch and get ready for school. Then how we will go to the kindergarten parking lot, mommy will park the car, mommy and Holly will go in the entrance and then to Mrs Peterson's classroom. Mommy and Holly will say goodbye, give hug and kiss, and then mommy will drive home and Holly will stay with Mrs Peterson and the other kids in her class. We talked about some of the kinds of things she will do in class, and then how the bell will ring when it's time to go home, Mrs Peterson will take all the children outside to wait. Then Myleigh will come and pick her up and together they will ride their scooters home.
So, that's pretty much how it unfolded for her. the only difference was that I brought her to class about ten minutes early, and she had some one on one time with Mrs Peterson, so she could walk her through the things Holly is to do when she comes into class, and just to acclimate her to the room a bit more before it was full of noisy kids demanding Mrs Petersons attention. I said good bye, she hugged me very tightly, said I love you mom, and we gave each other kisses on the cheek. When I left, I snapped a picture of the two of them looking at the first little story book the children will be learning from, and off I went.
That afternoon I waited very anxiously on the front step watching for the girls to appear, hoping that the day had gone well. It seemed forever watching all the children filing past our house, and then I spied them. Holly was on her scooter, way out in front of Myleigh, and scooting as fast as she could. When she got close enough to see me, she shouted out "Mommy!!" I went out into the yard, and she ran up to me, threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. I asked if she had fun at school and she said yes. After a few minutes of excited chatting about the things she did, I knew we had conquered another milestone.
Now, several weeks later, she still likes school, and has learned how to write and recognize three letters, including the letter H, which she proudly will tell you is the first letter in her name.
Pictures to follow.
