Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Starting Kindergarten


In less than a week, our baby girl, will be starting kindergarten. How is that even possible? We've been super busy since we came home from camp and quite honestly, it's hard to even shower some days with 3 little kids. We've been running and exploring non-stop! It's been a fantastic summer and we have no complaints. The weather was perfect, a great mix of hot days and cool nights. We've gone to Ryan's families cottage as many times as we possibly can and we've lived it up for sure! Our fire pit that was built last year was put to use plenty of times.

Tonight was open house night at school. Bella was nervous, which is completely the opposite of her typical personality. It's weird to see her like that and it takes some time for me to figure out how to respond.  I held her left hand and she reached her right hand across to hold my hand tightly, either that or daddy and I each had a hand. I think she's like me, nervous to start a new adventure but excited too. She keeps talking about going to school, riding the bus, packing lunch and what ifs...

"What if EVERYONE wants to be my friend, I can't have like 27 friends"
"Oh sure you can, you can have a TON of friends, it's best to be nice and be friendly with everyone!"
"Well, mom, that's totally impossible"

Ah the joys of being five and spreading your wings outside of your safe little nest. It's going to be an adventure for her and the rest of us as well. What will my days be like with just the boys and not her? I feel like I'll miss her terribly. With my job, I'm so blessed to be home with them all day four days a week. It's more than most parents get. We get to go on adventures, go exploring, spend our days giggling, fighting, snacking, playing and making each other crazy. What more could you ask for in life? I know this will be good for all of us. She loves learning and making friends, she makes friends every place she goes.

Her teacher seems nice and welcoming. She has over 20 years experience. When I quietly told her about Bella's hand and that if kids seemed to have questions, that she could have their parents email me, she said "Well if she's open to it or you guys want to, we could have a little time that we could explain that, just let me know what you think. There are plenty of kids that are different here and there's special needs students and we just do what we need to do to be sure they are all successful, it's kind of our culture here." She made me feel like everything would be just fine and that I had nothing to worry about. I hope that's the case.

You see, Bella's been in her safe little nest since she was born. It's been all of us and she's been at the same daycare (which her Aunt is the teacher) since birth. She's been going to the same gym daycare since she was a few months old and all of those people know her and love her just the same. No one really notices or mentions her hand. It makes me nervous. Kids are curious and some kids are downright cruel. I'm hoping that her answer of "I was just born this way" will suffice them. She's a smart girl and knows to tell her teacher if her space is being invaded or she feels uncomfortable. I'm just hoping that doesn't happen.

Wish me luck that I don't bawl like a baby when she heads off to school. I always wondered why moms did that. It's a bittersweet moment for sure. I'm hoping to hold back the tears so she know her wings can soar as high as the sky!

(Why can't I upload photos any longer into my blog??!)

The joys of being a mama

Being a parent is NO joke. I just had a conversation with one of my aunts about how as parents we do the very best we can and sometimes its ...