Look who's in kindergarten!

Ellie's first day of kindergarten was exciting! She had already visited the school twice, once for an assessment and once for orientation. She was READY! As Brant and I were anxiously waiting for the bell to ring, huddled with all the rest of the parents and students under the awning, trying to stay out of the rain, Ellie was tapping her foot saying "When can I go in the classroom! I just want to get in there and start spelling already!".

Yes, I said rain. In San Diego, on September 6th. Hasn't happened in at least 30 years. Bizarre weather, but much appreciated. Hopefully it wet everything enough to minimize our wildfire season.




Ellie is in Room 2 at McKinley Elementary School. Her teacher's name is Ms. Gentle...what a great name for a kindergarten teacher! Thus far Ellie thinks Ms. Gentle is so smart, and so nice, and so sweet. On the first day Ms. Gentle gave each parent and each child a cut out of a hand to match the color of their skin. Then she read a story (with her story telling hat on) about a raccoon who didn't want to go to school because he didn't want to leave his toys, and his bedroom, and his mommy...his mommy took his hand and kissed the palm, then closed his fingers around it and told him he could take her kiss with him to school and put it on his heart anytime he wanted to feel close to her. He did, and of course at the end of the story he was thrilled to be at school. Then we each kissed the hand we were given and exchanged it with our child though teary eyes...well my eyes were teary, and Ellie couldn't figure out why and when they were going to start learning. As you can see, she got to work right away - coloring a picture at her desk through the whole story. That's my girl - rolling her sleeves up right away, never missing a beat...
hard at work at her desk
Ms. Gentle reading to the parents and class

I have to say that one of the best parenting decisions that Brant and I have made was to take Ellie out of daycare a couple of weeks early and put her into YMCA camp. It gave her the opportunity to go somewhere new, where she didn't already have friends, and make new friends. It gave Brant and I (ok - mostly me...) the opportunity to cry my eyes out the first day, and have everything be just fine. To get through a couple of weeks of not knowing exactly what Ellie was doing at every moment in the day, and to begin to trust others to take care of my baby. Because after 5 years of her being at Jack and Cheryl's, they are like family. We're pretty excited about this "parenting success" since we're really just winging it!

Ellie loved kindergarten last week, and can't wait to go back tomorrow!