The first day of Kindergarten

The DAY was finally here: My daughter’s first day of Kindergarten. No more "sleeps", the day had finally arrived and boy was she ready. To prepare, I read a wonderful list of mom to-dos on school day, and the one that caught my eye was to get up 30 minutes before the house so you could get organized and maybe even enjoy a cup of coffee before the kids began to stir. Nice plan but 7 minutes before my alarm was to begin buzzing, in walked Spider. "Can I snuggle with you?" he said. And so we did, until I mentioned that today was the first day of school, at which point he leaped up and got very excited. Spider raced in and woke Skye. So the house was already up, and my alarm was now just going off.

Luckily the kids had gone to bed SUPER early, like 7 p.m., so they would be rested and have the best shot at success. And it worked! They had both picked out their outfits yesterday, and were thrilled to finally get to put them on. No tears, no complaining, just pure joy and nervous excitement.

To begin what will be their routine, I asked Skye and Spider to get her own breakfast going They love cereal, and they love it more when they do it "all my themselves". Whatever gets them eating!:) We all ate together, talking about how cool the bus was going to be and how much fun they were both going to have on their first day. Then, with teeth brushed, backpacks in hand, it was time.


Skye’s bus picks her up at the end of our street at 7:44 a.m., and we were right on time. No rushing, no yelling and happily, no crying. She was a little nervous just as we were leaving the house, which I recognized, noticing that she bent down and was touching her toes. So I asked if she thought she should go potty. She quickly smiled and with a sigh said, "No mom. I am just stretching." I giggled a bit.

We all made our way to the bus stop, and although I could tell she was still nervous, she never once got scared or broke her smile. She seemed to be soaking up the moment even more than me. And then, we heard it... "Bus! Bus!" Was shouted by the other kids, Skye gave me a quick hug and said, "Bye, I love you mommy!" She grabbed her backpack and walked to the back of the line. Not for a second did she think to cut the line.

She smiled and waved as she took those giant steps up into the yellow school bus. She sat in the second row and waved out the window to us. Blowing kisses, smiling and, I am sure, feeling like a very big kid. I didn't cry. I don't know why. But I didn't take my eyes off her. She was a big girl this morning, and she was so thrilled that I wanted to match her emotion. It was a magical morning. Honestly, one of my favorite moments as a parent thus far…Happy day my sweet little-big girl!


Summer Sanders on WhoSay