First Day of the Rest of Her Life!

Today our sweet Lainey started kindergarten at White Rock Elementary. Overall, it was a great day. We had a good morning -- an early morning, but good. In fact, I am going to have to wake her up a little earlier than I thought. She is a slow mover in the morning. She cannot be rushed. No surprise to anyone who has known her long. You will see and hear some classic Lainey comments throughout the day. I have included lots of pics to help document this momentous day.

The school girl in her uniform.

We are officially WRE Seahawks. Is there such a thing as a seahawk?
You know Rhody would be afraid of it if so.

Sweet hugs before school. Rhody asked to go get her 4 times before 10 am this morning. Luckily, I think he realized that it wasn't going to happen for a while.
He definitely missed his sister.

Our walk up to the school. Don't worry, we drove most of it. Lainey never let go of my hand until we reached her classroom. I didn't really want to let go either. The saddest I felt was walking up to the school. But at the same time, it was so awesome to see the entire neighborhood walking their children up to school too. We are lucky to be in such a great community.

The official picture in front of the school. Still holding hands.

Daddy and his girl right in front of her classroom.

Lainey was so excited to get in her classroom and put up her backpack in her cubby. She loved the classroom. She loved seeing her name on several different places in the room. She found her place on the round table and got to work writing her name and drawing her self-portrait.

This was our wave good-bye! She was totally into her "work" that she didn't get sad at all. It made me feel so much better about the whole thing to see her enjoying it in the first minutes of school. She knows one little girl in her class and luckily she was at her table!

Just wanted to document the kindergarten parents there to wait for the kiddos after school.

There is Lainey with Mrs. Barnes! Lainey really likes her and we are thrilled to have her as our teacher. In fact, this morning during breakfast Lainey told us that Mrs. Barnes is a great teacher--before even one day in her classroom. That is a good start.

Right after this picture we walked to the car. The whole fam. Lainey started whining and complaining and asking me to hold her. I guess she didn't get the memo that it was 98 degrees and we have two other children younger than her. Anyway, I was not looking forward to our afternoon because of the first few minutes after school. However, what she was mostly frustrated with was the heat and being hot and sweaty.

So once we got in the car, she was ok. She immediately told us she had a "high and low" from today. Her high was that she got to go to kindergarten. Her low was that they had to listen a lot in kindergarten--and not talk very much. She went on and on about how she couldn't talk and had to listen the whole time!

I asked her about recess. Her response was that she saw Addie for a minute but it was hot and then she got tired. She said she was tired--not sleepy tired more like worn-out tired. I mean she was in kindergarten for at least a half a day by that time!

The other funny thing she said was that she really didn't like sitting on the floor today. I guess they had story time or something, and she said she would much prefer to sit in what she thought was the teacher's chair--not the floor. She said that chair looked "comfy."

She talked to several people on the phone this afternoon and so I heard a few more thoughts she had about kindergarten. She told Kathleen that "they learn a lot in kindergarten but they do not play in kindergarten." Mrs. Barnes is laying down the hammer!!!

Our promised visit to Sonic after the first day of school!

Lainey chose Jason's deli for dinner tonight. Oh boy. Then Nana & Pops took her for ice cream--just like we used to get on our first day of school.
I hope Mom drove because clearly Dad is under the influence of drugs.

All in all it was a great day. It really is the beginning of a new stage of life for all of us. In no time at all, we will all get used to it. But right now, it is all new and exciting and terrifying. We are incredibly proud of Lainey and hope all the days ahead of her go as well as today--minus the whole tired thing.