Back to School

Maggie started first grade on Wednesday. Can you even believe it?! No, me either.

This is pretty much the only picture Mike got of her before we had to rush out the door because she would not cooperate. She's not about to cry. She just insists on making weird faces and acting awkward in photos. I have no idea who she gets that from. Ahem.

She woke up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday, all jazzed to go back to school and see her friends. She got dressed and ready to go with no prompting and seemed excited by the familiar morning routine. However, when we got to the playground, it was a zoo. The teachers were outside with signs trying to get their classes to line up in front of them to go in, but the whole place was just a complete madhouse. Maggie ended up crying and saying she didn't want to go anymore. I think she was really overwhelmed by the crush of people and the noise, and she was feeling apprehensive because her only friend from kinder who is in her class this year didn't show up until the very last minute.

Luckily, her teacher this year is wonderful and very kind. She came over and talked to Maggie and asked her to come stand by her at the front of the line and hold her hand! We hugged our goodbyes and off she went. Mike and I hung around chatting with friends and waving to her until her class went in, and she genuinely seemed fine after she was assigned a spot of her own. When I went to pick her up later, her teacher said she was great all day and Maggie said she loved her class. Then Day #2 went smoothly, no problem. She just needed a quieter transition, I think.

Yesterday, we dropped Maggie off at her school and then zipped over to Kate's preschool for her Open House. Kate did two days per week of preschool at a nearby community center last year (where Maggie and our neighbor friend went the year before), and her teacher suggested that this year she bump up to the pre-K instead of just adding another day of the same preschool program again. So this year, she'll go three days per week, and she has a new teacher in a different classroom that Maggie never had.

So far, so good. The class will be quite a bit smaller and the kids do seem older and more mature. Her new teacher is lovely - like a very kindly grandmother who happens to know a ton about children's minds. Kate's neighbor buddy is in her class along with a small handful of kids she recognizes from last year, so I think she's going to love it despite the changes.

Here are some photos of them in their new outfits, which they picked out themselves, as is our pre-school-year ritual. It was hotter on Wednesday than it has been for most of the entire summer, so we decided to postpone Maggie wearing her new first-day-of-school dress until yesterday when it was much, much cooler. Also, because of Kate's open house, they could wear their new outfits together. I think they look adorable anyway, but they would not pose properly for the photo. Mike got frustrated with them and gave up trying to get a picture where they both look normal. Here's the entire portfolio. Which one do you think is the least bad?

No shoes. They would not put their shoes on. They did eventually have shoes on for school, I promise.

Kate's shirt says "smart cat" and Maggie's dress has little hearts all over it.

Kate's first full day of real class is next Monday. I will be here at home, drinking my coffee, hopefully posting a lot more on my blog, and absolutely piggishly wallowing in the sweet silence.

... and missing my girls, of course, and wondering what they're doing, but also, AHHHH! THE SILENCE.