First Day of Kindergarten

Last night we laid out the uniform: white shirt, plaid jumper, white socks, white sneakers, and dark blue undershorts (because she will climb all over the new playground). I packed her lunch and two snacks.

Monkey1 awoke to find that her beloved yellow blanket had mysteriously reappeared. About a month ago she had been playing laundry, so she told me, and it fell out the window onto the shed roof. I refused to rescue it because we don't have a ladder. The unreachable blanket was brought to Dad's attention upon his arrival home from work in the near-dark. He reminded her that she had already dropped a pillow out the window and he had told her not to do that again. The next morning the blanket was nowhere in sight. She was happy to have her blanket back again. (This evening she told me that it had been off visiting its mother in Alaska.)

Over breakfast I discussed the morning drop-off procedure for school, for kindergarten. "It's different from preschool," I began, then described how the big kids, the fifth and sixth graders, help the students out of their cars and walk with them to their classrooms. Mom does not get out of the car.

Monkey1 was quite calm about this, which surprised me, while Monkey2 was extremely upset. "I want to go in Monkey1's classroom!!!!" I had worried all night about the wrong kid!

As Monkey1 got dressed, I brought out the necklace that her Godmother had given to her at her baptism. The school uniform code states that "one necklace with a single religious pendant may be worn." Monkey1 was delighted to wear the gold cross from the mysterious Godmother she hears about (a coworker from my Catholic television days), but has yet to meet.

Drop-off went perfectly smoothly. Monkey1 got out of the car, shouldered her backpack, and followed her Safety Patrol student without a backward glance. Monkey2 had gotten over her tears and was looking forward to seeing friends at the Mothers' Rosary Group later that morning. For me, it was a day a bit like last year, when Monkey1 was off at preschool and Monkey2 had all my attention. And just like last year, when it was time to go get big sister, she announced she did not want to go.

At pick-up, parents park their cars and walk into the gym to collect their students. Today we stayed for some playground energy-out time.

But when we got home, it was crunch time, getting supper and unpacking from the day and discovering homework and getting Monkey2 to bed, who for the last several weeks has been needing and getting a 6:30 p.m. bedtime. Thank goodness my husband came home in the middle of it! I was able to read to Monkey1 for half an hour before putting her to bed, looking forward to tomorrow.

I did get some feedback on the day. She was excited they are learning French. They wrote their numbers today. Her friend sitting next to her helped her with writing letters. (Uh-oh.) She got milk at lunch and was upset that she didn't get chocolate. They are not allowed to share snacks or lunch, which she thinks is ridiculous. The apple for snack was hard to eat because of her loose tooth.

The gym uniform is laid out for tomorrow, and both Monkeys will be at the same school tomorrow. Both girls will be at the same school tomorrow. Wait, no, ... yes, time does go by.