Ainsley goes to Kindergarten!!!

I have several postings in my "draft" file that I guess I'll post later b/c today was Ainsley's first day at school and I have to write it out while it's still fresh in my brain.

First and foremost, thank you to those of you who were praying for her (and me!) on her first day. Thank you also for the phone calls and emails! I felt very supported.

Here's the day's events:
Her bus picks her up at Resnik Elementary (our homeschool) at 8:43am. We had forgotten that Resnik starts at 8:50a so there was tons of traffic and the usual chaos. As we were quickly walking from the van to the school Ainsley was breathing hard and asking, "Is that my bus, did I miss it?" Poor girl. I slowed us down and told her that if she missed it, it was our fault, and that I would just drive her to school. No big deal, especially since we were going to her school this morning anyway. We figured out where she picks up the bus and the minute her bottom hit the seat the driver was off! It was HARD to watch her get on a bus by herself but she was so excited about it. I was worried too b/c her bus drops kids off at another elementary school before her school and what if she got off at the wrong school????? Try to let go, mama. We got to her school before she did and it was more chaos. The kindergarten teachers met the kids in front of the school but her teacher was way in the back and I'm not sure how this child is going to know where to look for her. It didn't matter b/c her bus got there late and the teachers had left! I am so glad that we were there to help her figure this out. I think she could have gotten to her classroom by herself, but I'm not sure! She found her locker and of course we had no idea what she was supposed to put in there. Funny she has a locker. Maryvale used to be a middle school, hence the lockers. A lot of parents were in her classroom so we stayed a bit before we headed to the library for the PTA's Kiss and Cry. On our way out to the van we saw her again in the cafeteria getting the cafeteria "low down" and rules. She was thrilled to see us again. We were not even off campus when Sage said, "I need my Anay (her name for Ainsley) and "I want to pway wif Anay". She was certainly missing her sis.

I should back up a bit. We're in the process of getting new cell phone numbers and plans. I told Lance I wanted that to get all worked out ASAP b/c we'd have to fill out the emergency forms with that info for both school and Mother's Day Out and I wanted the phone to work in case of an emergency. His phone works, mine, of course, does not. Hopefully he can fix the problem tonight via phone. Anyway. The point is I wanted it done by today. And don't you know that today the school nurse called me???? Apparently Ainsley got hurt on the playground and was getting ice so the nurse wanted me to know. She is totally fine but it just proves my point.

The big drag to the magnet school is the time she gets home. She was supposed to get off the bus at Resnik at 4:18 but they'll need a few weeks to work out the kinks. My daughter got off at 4:45! This is way later than the 5th and even 6th grade neighbors near us. But she was jazzed and didn't look tired at all! That might come tomorrow or later in the week, but it did make me feel better about having her ride the bus home this week. She is such an extrovert. When I asked her how it all went (the whole school day) she said, "I loved it!"

All in all, it sounds like she had a good first day. She met 2 friends and 1 of them rides her bus. She went through cafeteria and recess orientation and a fire drill. I'm thankful she gets an afternoon snack and so is she!

Sage has been asking if she can take a nap in her "big girl bed" ever since we put them in 1 room together. My answer is always "When sis goes to school, you can sleep in your big girl bed at nap time". She was SO excited for that today. And she's been tired each morning with the new slumber arrangement. At 12:30 she yelled to Lance and I, "I'm SO tired". She took a great nap in her "big girl bed".