Schooligan

So, my first born had her first day of school about a month ago. Oh my word, the cuteness was beyond me. Completely, ridiculously cute.

It all started about a year ago when I would pick up either my niece or nephew from school with Eva. She loved it, especially when we got to go inside- book fair, Christmas show, etc. She would constantly talk about Judah and Addie's school and, eventually, began to ask if she could go. By the time the school year was over this last spring, she was starting to get upset when I told her she was too little to go to school. But when I heard that Windsor Christian preschool was starting, for the first time, and "2 and a 1/2 year old class", I didn't even hesitate for a second. I signed her up and made the very stupid mistake of telling her just that (IN MAY). HELLO!!!! Add that to the list of "dumbest mom moves"...

So, she managed to wait 4 months, almost driving me out of my mind in the process, and started school on September 9th. Her back-pack was literally as big as she was- all the kids have to use the same one, provided by the school- and it served as a very concrete reminder of how small she still is. But, she was positively giddy when the day arrived. She woke bright and early and asked for 3 hours if it was time for us to leave. She walked to her class with major gusto and waited impatiently outside until the teacher declared, "it's time to come in and get started". She bolted across the threshold and didn't look back. In fact, the teacher had to bring her back to the door to remind her to "say bye-bye to mommy and give her a kiss and a hug". Hello? Did the teacher really have to remind my kid to show me some love on the first day of school? Geez Louise.

When I came back to get her a few hours later, she looked pretty disheveled (no more pigtails) and greeted me with a huge hug and a "MOMMY!!!", but talked my ear off the rest of the day about how much fun she had at her new school. Her teacher sent a few pictures of their first day and in EVERY one she had only one pig tail in. Seriously? Did I really think that my attempt to cutify her would work when I wasn't there to "re-do" her hair every 2 minutes? I mean, even then, it's usually a disaster. Live and learn. Don't even give their cuteness a second thought, because they are so cute even when they look like complete wrecks :)

She has continued to absolutely love school and she is engaged and learning. It's been amazing to watch her soak in so much.  Our Evangeline: She's one dynamite little girl.