27th August 2007

First day

posted in Uncategorized |

I took the dotter in to school today, her first day of kindergarden.  Since things have been up in the air lately, she didn’t have new shoes, a new backpack, a fancy new outfit, or anything like that.  But, of course, I took the requisite First Day Of School picture.  Equally of course, it’s blurry.

I met Miss Shoehorn, who seems like a lovely lady, and handed her the bag of supplies requested.  (Since this was the first time we had ever done this, I had no idea if I was supposed to fill the dotter’s backpack with all the stuff, or keep it at home and dole it out bit by bit, or what.  So I dumped it all in a bag, figuring I would ask when we got there.  I can see why they don’t spell it out–after all, most parents have been through it many times already, so why bother?  But for those of us clueless firsttimers, it would have been nice to be told, “All this stuff gets put into one big pile of each item, and is doled out to the kids during the year as needed”, rather than just leaving us to go “Bduh, bduh, bduh, whaddoIdo wit’ this stuff?”)

I liked the classroom–it’s fun and organized and busy and looks like the kids will be involved, entertained, and learn.

The dotter handled it well; she was very excited to be Going To School!  But then came the moment when mommy was getting up to go…

And the tears came.  Big fat tears, seeping out of her eyes, her lips trembling oh-so-slightly.  And the tears began to fall, more and more of them, but she didn’t cry or sob, oh no no.  She just wept quietly, and asked me, in a very trembly voice, “When will you pick me up?”

Oh, baby.  Oh, you’re such a big girl now.  In a few days, that moment of fear and trembling will be a wisp of memory; you’ll be making friends and learning things and having fun.  All I wanted to do was to cuddle you up and give you big hugs, but I knew if I did, the weeping would turn to sobs and my big brave girl wouldn’t be able to handle it.

I didn’t cry, myself, not until I just wrote that last paragraph.  But, yeah, there it is:  she’s growing up, getting bigger, and sooner than we expect, we’ll be schlepping her off to college and the house will be much emptier.

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There are currently 11 responses to “First day”

  1. 1 On August 27th, 2007, Miss Cellania said:

    Oh, she is just so beautiful! I would have cried in the situation. She’s a brave little girl.

  2. 2 On August 27th, 2007, Joan said:

    It does go fast! …Turn around and they’re two, turn around and they’re four, and all that… OmegaDotter looks so cute and happy! Her teacher will just love her, I know it.

    I just sent my littlest off to first today. yikes.

  3. 3 On August 27th, 2007, SBird said:

    She looks…different…in that photo! Incredibly cute (per usual), but…more confident? not as coy? just plain-out happy? Not sure, but she seems to radiate It. Lovely post, Ms. Omega.

  4. 4 On August 27th, 2007, chicagomama said:

    Love the picture, she is getting very grown up. And you and she were awesome today - I hope you met her at the doors of the school with open arms and big praise for being so brave!

  5. 5 On August 27th, 2007, Margaret said:

    She’s so big, and so cute all ready for school with her backpack! I know I’ll be crying inside when my little ones are off to school.

  6. 6 On August 27th, 2007, Lizard said:

    wow, she sure does look like a kindergardener. So cute and big and school-kid like. And so brave, through those tears. They are heartbreaking, those tears.

    we miss the cutoff this year, since E will not be 5 until a month from today (yikes!) so we won’t start K until next year… I will be reading avidly to see how the OD deals with it to make sure I learn as much as I can. That she made it at all seems a miracle, with how much things have changed for you all in the last month.

    Every day will get better, I’m sure.

  7. 7 On August 28th, 2007, Julie Pippert said:

    OH MY GOSH! She looks so BIG! And her haircut is ADORABLE. Too cute, she’s always been so cute but my, now she’s BIG cute. :)

    Oh no big fat tears. Oh sweetie.

    Mine put on Big Girl Brave Face. Oy. Then had to walk the kid gauntlet to get to the door when I picked her up so came out with Resolute Face.

    Today we had lunch in the Cafetorium (mwahahahahaha).

    And supplies? This is why I bought mine from the PTA, who delivered them for me to the teacher. Whew.

    Julie
    Ravin’ Picture Maven

  8. 8 On August 28th, 2007, Juliette said:

    Your daughter is very cute and congrats to her and her Mommy for the first day. Sounds like she’s going to have a great year!
    It was last week for us (Junior K) and it went pretty well…but yesterday and today she cried when I left her… Sight!

  9. 9 On August 28th, 2007, omegamom said:

    Miss C.–It hurt inside, but if *I* cried, she would have just busted a gut bawling!

    Joan–That’s one of my favorite songs. The last one off to school, eh? Wow. I bet it feels very strange at home now during the day!

    SBird–Hah! She was just on the verge of being coy; I caught her right at the right moment. A second later, and she was putting on the show again.

    ChicagoMama–She was so brave, sitting there and watching me go away. Alas, I didn’t wait for her at the door (bad mom!); she was picked up by her aftercare place, and I picked her up from there.

    Margaret–Y’know, it wasn’t as mushy for me as the recital practice was…I think I got that gut-level omigoshmybaby’sgrowingup out at that one.

    Lizard–Aw, it’s not possible that E is going to be 5! But given our history it does seem as if the dotter and I are good precursors for what you and E will be facing in six months. But she’ll be older and more confident when she starts kindergarten than the dotter. She’ll also have the advantage of starting school in an area where she’s grown up and knows a lot of the kids (post coming up, sigh).

    Julie–the dotter wants to eat hot food at “The Factory”. I am not sure if that’s the real name or not; she calls the Shoebox “the department”, so “The Factory” could be just about anything. So how is Patience doing?

    Juliette–Aw, poor baby! Did she say why she was crying? It makes me worry (that post I’m working on) that things will be going downhill for the dotter before they look up…

  10. 10 On August 29th, 2007, figlet said:

    Awww. Sweet girl. You did pick her up, right? I mean you left a cliff hanger there ;-)

    Beautiful picture of the Dotter.

  11. 11 On August 18th, 2008, OmegaMom said:

    [...] to my dismay, the picture is blurry, goodness only knows why.  Here’s the first day of kindergarden, as a [...]

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