I've always told myself that if I could just get my kids past certain, simple benchmarks I'd consider myself a "good" parent. Things like crawling, walking, potty training, sleeping through the night were all admirable benchmarks that me and my kids would go through together. (At this point, I probably started this blog post more than 3 months ago, in an ill-fated effort to finish blogging 2013 before 2014 started, but that was not to be. So I had to think really hard about what the post was actually supposed to be about and I didn't remember until here.) However, no one could prepare me for when my firstborn started kindergarten and was at school for a FULL DAY!!! Half day pre-k was emotional enough but all day at school?, what parent does that to their child?!?!!! Alas, I bravely prepped Ryan for school, we got lunch boxes and backpacks, we got lunch supplies and classroom supplies, we got everything from pencils and paper to Clorox wipes and Kleenex tissues, I didn't realize all that kids had to bring to school these days!!! We laughed over first day of school outfits and whether or not she'd wear her hair up or down or with a bow or without (she settled for a bow worn half up half down). I even purchased a frame and spray painted the glass with chalkboard paint and wrote the cutesy "First day of Kindergarten" on it complete with the school year and other various data pertinent to Ryan and had her stand in front of it before we left the house, alone for a few clicks before sweet Brittyn photobombed us. She's just sweet that way. She kinda felt like it was her first day of school because she too picked out outfits and I packed a lunch for her to take to "Grandma's school" and she packed it in her own back pack. She will NOT be left out. I wish now I had made her her own chalkboard sign.
We finally made it to school and got in line to drop our baby off, we all walked as a family to her class and took a few more obligatory pictures outside her classroom door and with her cousin Amelia, who was in the classroom right beside her. I couldn't wait to pick her up when school got out, I had waited all day to hear all that she had done. She loved Ms. Dobbins (her substitute teacher, since her teacher Mrs. Cowart was still on maternity leave) and she had made lots of new friends and loved her new teacher and her lunch and tons of other things I can't remember because she spoke so fast with excitement. Overall it was a good day and she loved it and hasn't looked back. I honestly couldn't be more proud of her if I tried.
**MSL**
