First day of kindergarten

Today was Annika's first day of kindergarten, and it was great!  She had no fears or hesitations about going, and there were no tears today (for either of us).  Most of you probably saw these pictures on Facebook already, but here they are again.

A note about her "back to school" outfit - the white t-shirt was given to all the kindergarten students at the June meeting and they were all asked to wear it on their first day (I don't have a picture of it, but it has the name of our school division on it, and a star, and says something like "let your star shine bright".  I'll admit, when we got it, I thought, "no way is she going to wear that dorky shirt for her first day of school".  The past few days we went back and forth about wearing it - if she didn't wear it, would she be the only one?  If she did wear it, would she be the only one??  She decided last night to wear it, but sadly, only 2 or 3 other kids in the class wore theirs.  It didn't really seem to phase her though (atta girl).

Getting ready this morning went really smoothly, as both kids were up early, so I didn't have to wake them.  They actually even had time to play a little after breakfast before we had to go (the school is a 5-10 minute walk from our place, depending on whether Emmett is walking or in the wagon!).  School starts at 8:47 - isn't that an odd time?

 

She had a great day, and the first thing she said when she saw me was "mom, I made a new friend!"  In "Annika-land", that can mean just sitting next to someone (she applies the term "friend" quite broadly), but she she actually knew the girl's name and said they had done a puzzle together.  She was quite tired after school though.  She barely made it through lunch and she wasn't really hungry at all, since she had had a snack at school (I don't usually give the kids a morning snack).  Tonight by the time bedtime came, she was more than ready to sleep.

So, we survived the first day...  now for the next one, and the next one, and so on.  It will take some adjusting to get used to this new routine, but I think we'll manage.  Tomorrow Emmett and I get to go to his preschool (formerly Annika's preschool) for a meet and greet with the teachers (who we already know, but now it's Emmett's turn - no longer will he be stuck out in the hallway!).