Best You Can Hope For

Alyssa started kindergarten today. She's been in childcare since she was 3 months old, so she's used to going to "school" during the week. Morning dropoffs are routine in our house, even though we've had a three month vacation this summer. Still, this is kindergarten, not daycare. She said she was a little nervous, but she seemed to settle in to her new room pretty easily, and as far as I could tell, she shed no tears when I left for the day. Some of the kiddos did cry, as did some of the moms, and I can't blame them. This is a big step for our kids, a serious move towards independence, and a long day to be responsible for themselves. It's a big deal for a five year old. And the five year old's parents!

I feel a little more at ease with her, though, because Benjamin is only two doors down from her, and will be seeing her off and on throughout the day. He's pretty good about helping out when she needs it, so I feel ok about her being there.

They are also in a brand new building this year. We have them enrolled in a charter school near our house, and last year I think the entire school was housed in trailers and portable buildings. It made leaving Benjamin for kindergarten a little harsher; the rooms weren't very nice, regardless of how much work the teachers put into them, and everything felt very run down.

This year, they are going into a brand new building, with new classrooms, bathrooms in every classroom (they didn't have that last year), and a much more suitable environment for learning. I felt so much better leaving them this year than last, although part of that is probably having gone through it already with Benjamin.

Anyway, we did the dropoff this morning with arms full of shiny new school supplies, and I picked them up this afternoon after school let out. Of course the pickup line was a nightmare the first day, but I suppose it'll settle down pretty soon. They spotted me coming down the line of cars and were all excited to get in the car. And the first thing Alyssa said was, "Mommy, I had a fantastic great day at kindergarten!"

Really, what more can you hope for? Both kids had good first days, and my girl is ready to go back tomorrow. There's nothing else to ask for.  I'm happy.