Back to School!

Today was the day.  Morgan's first day of Kindergarten.  Day 1 of the next (probably) nine years at her school, which goes up to 8th grade.  For me, I kind of feel like it was the first day of the rest of my life.

I have been waiting so long for this day to come.  And the fact the kindergarteners started three days later than the rest of the grades made the build up of the past few days even more dramatic.  I was getting moody.  Morgan was excited but very impatient, bordering on irritating.  Sasha must have picked up on the anticipation too because she has been very whiney and asking for me every 5 minutes.  It kind of reminds me of the few weeks right before I left for college.  I was 18, but I remember getting really moody and irritated by my parents.  I'm sure I was a real delight for them to be around, especially for my mom.  All that waiting is hard - the not knowing, the excitement, the fear, the change.

Sasha insisted on being in the picture with her backpack. 

Morgan loves scootering to school!

Morgan had a great first day!  She was so calm, focused, and happy.  She clearly enjoyed having Sam, Sasha, Aunt Kimmy, and I there to walk her to school (while she rode her scooter) and check out her classroom.  But beyond that she was so ready - she is almost six after all.

Aunt Kimmy checks out her locker.

And I was really ready too! I just wanted to get things going, to get into a routine.  Just walking her to school and walking back to pick her up was a totally new thing for us.  I love that we can walk (although it's almost a half mile, so something we will do when it's not rainy) and I love seeing familiar faces from our neighborhood and community.  I finally feel like I am part of something and look forward to meeting friends and families that I know we will have a connection to for many years to come.  But it's also a really big community!  With almost 700 kids in kindergarten through 8th grade, it's a busy place.  We are definitely not in preschool anymore!

An official Kindergartner!

I keep wondering about all those first days of schools I have had as a teacher.  Looking back, I bet many of my students' parents were feeling the same anxiety, fears, excitement, and pride that I am feeling today.  But now that I am on the other side as a parent, I certainly see everything very differently.  At Morgan's school, I can barely find the main office and I seem to always be going in the wrong door.  Paperwork comes home and I don't know if I should fill it out or what it means.  I still have questions about their daily routine, like if I should pack a snack or where to leave her scooter in the morning.  There seem to be lots of little details that I haven't been told or will have to figure out through experience.  I'm sure there were a lot of details I overlooked as a teacher, that would have made the lives of the families I worked with a bit easier.

I know this day is all about Morgan, but I can't help wondering when I will be back in public school myself.  Hanging out on the playground after school or looking around her neatly organized classroom makes me feel a little lost and missing the days when I had my own world of work.  But I know if I were going through all the first day drama on the teacher side of it again, I would be missing out on a very special day for Morgan.  I'm so happy to be able to share this with her and watch her grow up.  However, when I do get back to the classroom and it's the first day of school, I know I will have a very different perspective than I did before I had kids.  Parenthood is definitely making me a better teacher!

Her new classroom! (I think she was ready for me to leave)

Morgan & neighborhood buddy, Seamus