August 12

Today was the big day:

Caleb's first day of kindergarten, and Daisy's first day of preschool!

I have been unsettled about sending Caleb to kindergarten for a while now; my heart was torn between wanting to keep him with me and homeschool him, and wanting to send him to public school where he could spread his little wings and learn to function without me. After much thought and prayer and discussion, Chris and I decided that both options had merit, but given Caleb's personality, sending him off might be best. I still reserve the right to change my mind, but for now it seems that we've made the right choice.

Yesterday was Meet the Teacher day, and Caleb was pretty nervous. After a while, though, he seemed to have wrapped his head around the idea and was just fine. Today, he didn't seem nervous at all.

Despite the fact that he got to bed super-late last night, Caleb popped out of bed at 6:30. Daisy woke up soon after, and went in to check on him. From my bed, I could hear Caleb tell Daisy, "Come on, Daisy! We have to get ready for school!"

He chose his favorite muscle shirt, blue sweat shorts, and his super-fast running shoes.

Breakfast was Daddy's special pancakes (made ahead of time and frozen, since Chris is still in Wisconsin) and some gluten-free bread, toasted with butter.

We packed his snack - green apple and raisins - and his lunch - ham slices, cheddar cheese, cucumber slices, strawberries, and allergen-free snickerdoodles from Trader Joe's.

And then he was ready!

Daisy wanted her picture taken first.

I didn't even try to argue with her about her outfit, or convince her to wear something that actually matched. She was really happy with what she chose to wear to school!

Caleb was so eager to have his picture taken that he couldn't even wait for the chalkboard to dry! He was really excited.

(Would you like a reminder of what his first day of preschool looked like, last year? It's here.)

And my two cuties together!

Then Daisy licked Caleb. That girl is such a stinker!

Goodness, I love them. I love that they are best friends!

Can you believe how excited he is?

This boy. 

Ready to go!

Caleb's bus picks him up just down the street at 8:25, and we have to leave the house at 8:45 to get Daisy to preschool on time, so it works out perfectly. Daisy wore her backpack for the walk to the bus  stop, and I wore Lily on my back.

As we waited for the bus, Caleb grew a little bit nervous.

But by the time the bus arrived, he was all smiles again!

See ya later, big guy!

And not a tear was shed - by either of us. 

After Caleb was on the bus, Daisy was ready to go to preschool rightthissecond. It took all of my energy to keep her distracted for twenty minutes until it was time to go!

(I kind of wish that I had made her put that newspaper down, but she absolutely refused. I do like that you can see today's headline, though. Our city is in the midst of a major crisis, and today my prayers alternated between praying for my children at school, and praying for peace in our city.)

She was so excited to wear her backpack, even though it was totally empty.

My big girl!

Daisy rocked preschool. Dropoff went off without a hitch; she wasn't even the slightest bit sad. Lily and I came home, and Lily went down for a nap right away. Yes! She woke up just in time to go pick Daisy up. Daisy's morning was great, and she was excited to tell me about going down the slide on the playground, playing with Play-doh, and the Bear Hunt song.

Then the girls and I met a friend for lunch, and headed home for naps. On the way, Daisy asked if we could go pick up Caleb now. I explained to her that when she woke up from her nap, we could pick up Caleb. That one backfired on me: the girl spent an hour and a half in her room, but never actually napped. After what she determined was a reasonable time, she came into my room and asked, "I am done with my nap. Now can we go get Caleb?" 

She was so excited to get her brother that she couldn't even sleep! Funny girl.

Caleb's bus was well over thirty minutes late dropping him off, due to first-day glitches. Luckily, the weather was lovely and the girls and I enjoyed some outside time. I expected Caleb to be tired or grouchy, but he was neither. His favorite part of his day was that he got to have TWO recesses! TWO!

He only ate half of his apple, didn't drink any of his water, and only ate strawberries and cheese for lunch. He did inform me, however, that he bought chocolate milk at lunch. He had no money, and no money on his lunch account, so I think we now owe the school money. After a long talk about how he is not to buy any food at school without my permission, he told me that they didn't have straws, and he ended up spilling his chocolate milk all over himself, anyway.

Poor kid. 

Otherwise, he had a great first day, and he's excited to go back tomorrow! No preschool for Daisy, though, so it will be just me and the girls all day.