The fact of the matter is, I cried.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been pretty excited about Ella’s first year at Elementary School. I never thought I’d be emotional or upset to leave her. She has been talking about “big school” all summer and we were well prepared. She went shopping with Garan for fabric for her dress, Ella & I made new hairbows a few nights ago and we ordered the perfect pair of shiny, purple shoes. Josh & I went for parent orientation on Monday afternoon and on Wednesday we were able to take Ella back to tour her room and meet some new friends. We spent some time last night packing her backpack, ironing her clothes and getting her lunch together in the fridge. As prepared as we were, I wasn’t really ready.
I woke up with little arms and legs over my back. She later told me that she couldn’t fall asleep and climbed into bed with me. I got up early and let her sleep. I ran Sophie to school and cooked the breakfast she requested – pigs in a blanket. I woke her up with a snuggle and told her breakfast was ready. As usual, she complained about being sleepy and wanted to stay in bed. Then she remembered. With her eyes closed, she got the biggest grin on her face and said, “I can’t believe I’m a schoolgirl!” I should have known then.
We got all dressed up and she was pretty excited about her look. I was worried we would have a meltdown over shoes or her bows this morning, but everything went so smooth. I fixed her breakfast and she sat down with her daddy. She asked him why her belly was hurting and told me should couldn’t eat her breakfast just yet. She had a little case of the nerves. She is JUST like her mommy.
She wanted us both to walk her in this morning, so we made a family trek to school. Because Ella’s birthday is later in September, she can’t actually go to kindergarten until next year. Fortunately for us, our elementary school has a 4 year old kindergarten class that has regular school hours, gym, music and lunch in the cafeteria. It was so strange thinking about her walking the halls with those big kids!
When we got to her class, her buddies Conner and Katelyn were already there and a new friend, Campbell, who Ella met earlier in the summer at VBS. She immediately started playing and gave me a big hug. Goodbye. I asked her if she wanted me to stay and she said no. Cue the tears. SD and I made the long walk back to our cars and talked about how big she looked in there. I could not believe I was crying! I literally paced the house all day long waiting for 2:15 to get here. I have never been so happy to see my big girl. She had such a fun day and can’t wait to go back next week. Thank goodness Garan and lots of my girlfriends work there, because I got LOTS of updates on her today. I’ll be relying on them all year to keep me posted on my precious Ella. I seriously cannot believe this day is here.
