That's right, dayS. BOTH my babies were off to school today. We have had a truly fabulous summer and I suppose I'm ready (maybe sort of) to get back into the school year routine. All of us are going to miss staying up late and sleeping in, playing all day and relaxing with nowhere to be day after day. Now we're back to packing lunches and alarm clocks and spelling lists and walks home from school and all the other stuff that goes along with the school year... It's going to be an adjustment, especially for me, I think!
Adeline has been looking forward to grade two since grade one ended in June. She is back in her same classroom with one of her teachers from last year and she's super excited to make new friends and get to work! This girl LOVES school.
Today was Vivian's first day of preschool as well. Even a year ago I never would have thought my littlest would have been ready for preschool just after she turned three, but Viv has absolutely blossomed in the last year and she's become much bolder and much more confident recently. She was a little worried in the weeks leading up to today though. She would frequently say "I'll be all alone at school". When I would reassure her and tell her that she wouldn't be alone because she would have her teachers and lots of nice friends she would look at me very seriously and say "But I'll be all alone with no Mama...". Today on the way out the door she wanted reassurance that the same Mama that dropped her off at school would be picking her up. I had said "And when preschool is done, your Mama will be waiting for you" and she grabbed on to the bottom of my shirt and said "THIS Mama?" with a bit of a worried look. Once I made it clear that there would never be any new Mamas for her, Vivian was ready to go and she didn't look back as she strode confidently into her room. David and I basically circled the building with cellphone in hand in case anything went wrong, but she met us with a big grin at the end of her hour and told us it was "GREAT!" and "SO MUCH FUN!" and when I told her she gets to go back tomorrow and have more fun she pumped her fist and said "Yesssssssss!". She told us all about her teachers and declared them "Really really nice". Vivi said she liked playdough and circle time the most. Each day this week gets a little longer until she finally does her full half-day on Friday. I think she's going to absolutely THRIVE at this preschool. Of course I'm a little sad that our baby season is over and it feels very strange to me that my little shadow now has a big part of her life that I know very little about, but at the same time I'm so proud of Vivi and so happy to see her so independent and ready to take on the world!