So glad that you asked!
It went very well. The night before, after I wrote my letter to Riley though, she woke up with the nervous shakes. I've never seen her like that before. I think it was around 9:00 when she woke up and she told me crying that she was nervous for tomorrow. Poor baby. I felt so bad for her. I was not able to get her to calm down just by talking to her, so I decided we should have a late night nail polish session. I reminded her what a wonderful person she was, how everyone loves her, and how cute her outfit was going to be for tomorrow. She thought that was pretty cool, and I had her smiling in no time. It was kind of nice to know that she does still need me :)
This morning, we woke up, and were ready to go by 7:15. Her entourage had arrived and after a few pictures by the house, we were ready to walk to school. I'm so excited that we live close enough to walk to school, that is, if I'm not running crazy late (like I used to when she was in preschool...hey, I never said I was perfect) which at that point, I'll pack her up in the car and drive down there. Did you want to see her entourage?
She had quite a turn out for her first day. Which I think she was super excited about. She was a completely different kid from the kid she was last night. Like my Aunt said on Facebook, "All smiles!"
How cute is she?
She was so excited to get there, that she asked me if she could run. And I LOVE the fact that the backpack is almost as big as she is.
I had a few almost breakdowns on the way to the school, but I kept my tears in. I did good folks. I did good. Much better than I thought I would. You know, the morning of, it's eat breakfast, get dressed, brush your teeth, let's get your hair done, put your shoes on, that I didn't have a moment to think about it. Until the walk.
And thank you so much to my Mom who grabbed my camera from me and took a lot of great photos. She also took a few of Riley by the sign in front of her school, but for privacy, I've chosen not to post that.
This picture she took of Riley on our walk to the school. I might just have to frame this one.
And after that, I asked my Mom to take a family picture before I lost it. I'm telling you, I was on the verge, and blinked back many a tear.
And in case you are wondering, that face on Madi is the same face that is in every picture of our family that my Mom took. So yes, that is the best one. :)
Standing in line at the gate...I adore this picture...
The first day of school, the parents were allowed to stay for about 30 minutes while we did a few activities with Riley. I took a picture looking into her classroom.
It was really nice to be there for a little bit with Riley. She had met one little girl at meet the teacher day that we reintroduced her to. She has the same name as Riley's cousin, so we thought that might be easy for her to remember. Riley was so nervous about meeting friends. And after she sat for a while with Jocelynn, she came up to me and said that she was ready to meet more friends.
So she did! I was so proud of her, she did so well. And, we had homework assigned that is really not due for another week, but Riley was so excited to get it done, that we did.
She couldn't wait to show it to her teacher, and her teacher thought it was so special, that she put it up on the wall so that the other kids had an example of what to do with their animals...here is her yellow duck...
I'm just so proud of her. Here she is right before we said good bye...
When I picked her up from school, I was soooo anxious to hear how it went and was surprised with what she chose to tell me...
1. "I didn't feel like meeting any new friends after you left Mommy."
2. "One of the boys peed their pants because he waited too long." (Poor little guy!! I felt so bad for him!)
3. "I didn't show anyone but my teacher my lunch box because it is so pretty and I thought someone would snatch it up and steal it." (Ummm okay, no idea where that came from)
4. She ate snack with the girls and saw her neighbor friend.
5. She was mad because they didn't play on the playground.
6. And...last but not least, "Mommy stop asking me questions, I forget everything that happened at school when I walk out the door." (we are gonna have to work on that)
Overall, the day couldn't have gone better. It was nice to meet other Mom's with tears in their eyes, and others that had been around the block enough times to know that it gets easier.
Awe. Now I can sleep. Thank you all for your support, it has meant the world to me!
