First Day of School!

Daddy woke Claire up this morning. She greeted us with a groggy grin, and eventually got out of bed. She was excited when she came in the kitchen and came face to face with a plate of cinnamon rolls (one of her favorites). As she ate those, Claire finally started to grin and smile, and talk about this being her first day at Kindergarten. She said things like "I can't wait to learn new things, I hope we have PE today, I hope I don't get sent to the principal's office". Then she brushed her teeth, put on her outfit that took hours to pick out yesterday, let Mommy do her hair and declared herself ready for the pictures!

I had her write out the page you see in the pic that says "2008, KG, Central Park Elem." and she was ready to show off her handy work. From the point of getting dressed, she had a HUGE grin on her face, and couldn't stop talking...really. Mommy does this when she's nervous, and I think maybe Claire will have that trait also. But she was excited as she talked and after we said hello to everyone else in the neighborhood out taking pictures before the first day of school, we hauled in the truck and drove around the corner. We are lucky that Claire's school is very close to us. Amidst the traffic and chaos at school, we got our picture taken by the professional photographer and then let Claire lead us in. She did this without hesitation, went in her room, hung up her backpack, found her table and started coloring. That was it, she quit talking once she sat down, and the calm that I wasn't sure would happen, was apparent. She was ready, grown up, sitting at her KG table working hard on her coloring, looking at Geoff and I with big blue eyes, waiting for us to leave so she could get busy. I held it together until I was in the hall, and then have done fine until right now. It helped once again that I knew enough people to be embarrassed if I had started bawling. So there you have it...my baby girl is a big girl now. And will be forever.

I love you Claire, and am so proud of you for being brave and smart, and going to school without any problems. You are such a great girl, and I will miss you terribly while you're away, but will be so excited when you come home so I can hear all about how much you've learned and grown!!!