Its here! Its here! The day that I have been both secretly and openly preparing for since January. The 1st day of Kindergarten has come and with it, much happiness, a little anxiety and an infinite amount of pride. Yesterday I treated Miss J. to an evening at The Children's Place for some much needed size 6 jeans and other stylish goodies. She was very happy to be in one of her favorite stores, with three of her favorite people: me, my grandmother and my little brother. We walked away with 9 complete outfits, which includes 6 pairs of jeans with lots of room for growth. Last night before heading to bed I laid out all of the outfits across my bed and asked Miss J. which she'd like to wear for the first day of school. She proudly chose an all pink outfit and proceeded to remove all of the Size 6 stickers and I helped remove the tags. I put the rest of the outfits on hangers and showed them to their new home.

This morning, as I ran around the house reading a list of To-D0's The First Day of School, packing a lunch, tracking down a sweater and packing my own new Cal bag, I wondered if I would cry once I got Miss J. to her new kindergarten class. This is a very big moment in her little life, one that marks the beginning of all the years that will truly matter. I wondered if she would have any second thoughts about becoming a new kindergartener. I am happy to report that I did not shed a single tear (perhaps I was smiling too much to cry) and she couldn't be a more confident and ready kindergartener.

I told Miss J. to go to her drawer and get out her pink socks while I got her outfit out of the closet so that she could get dressed. The minute my hand grabbed the hanger of the pink shirt Miss J. stopped me with urgency in her voice, "No, wait wait!! I changed my mind, I don't wanna wear that one anyone, I wanna wear this one". "You mean the blue one", I asked. "Uh huh". "Alright then, get the white socks instead and your new shoes", I instructed. All went well and we were out the door.


Pants are nicely at the top of shoes were they should ALWAYS be.

And lunch bag is all packed and ready to go.


Once we got onto the campus and I remembered the direction of the kindergarten classes, we found ourselves outside of the three kindergarten classrooms surrounded by excited 5 year olds, picture taking parents and cubbies with name tags. Miss J. had already found her's the day before during orientation, but I helped her find it again. She was so excited that she did not want to hold my hand in the crowd or stay by my side once she saw her friend Miss L. I was able to keep her attention, just long enough for her to place her lunch bag and extra change of clothes in her cubby.


We lost Miss L. in the crowd so we decided to line up and wait for the teacher to open the door.

After getting a name tag, Miss J. joined her classmates and picked out a book to take to the rug to read until it was time for the teacher to hold their rug meeting.


The rest, as they say, is history. As I left the classroom Miss J. was eagerly engaged in raising her hand to be called on to answer questions from the teacher. Planted comfortably right in the front row. I left without any kind of signaling and went to go handle some mommy stuff with the rest of the parents. I think Miss J. has developed into quite the little academic, I guess she has had enough training with having spent the last 2 years in preschool. I can't wait to hear about all the new things, songs, friends and whatever else she will want to tell me about her 1st day.