Grace's First Day of Kindergarten

Grace's first day of kindergarten and at her new school was yesterday. She is perfectly adorable and very grown-up in her uniform. Faithful readers of this blog (perhaps that should be singular-hi Mom!) may recall that Grace struggled at the French School with separating from Mommy. Grace is a bit of a homebody and would much prefer to hang out at home than do anything else. Daily drop-offs at school last year were accompanied by tears and sometimes hysteria. So Steve and I were quite concerned about what drop-offs would be like this year.

The drop-off procedure (and it is a procedure, there's a whole page in the handbook devoted to it) is that I pull up in "car line" not "the car line" when it is my turn and she opens her door and hops out. She is greeted by a teacher who makes sure she enters the building to go down the stairs to her classroom. Yesterday, I was in "car line" and pulled up to drop her off. We had prepped many hours for this moment. And. . .she refused to get out of the car. This was bad. I pulled out of "car line" and parked and walked her in. She was crying but I was insistent that she stay. I hugged her and kissed her and walked out quickly.

When I picked her up in "car line" yesterday, she was all smiles. Her teacher Mrs. Graviett said she was great as soon as I left (figures. . .). Grace reported that she had a fantastic day at school and made new friends. Good.

Onto Day 2. Grace woke up this morning and cried because she didn't want to go to school. I told her it is Maine State Law and she had to. I dreaded drop-off but remained cheerful. At "car line" today, I stopped, opened her door and helped her out, gave her a hug and kiss and proceeded to drive away. She screamed that she wanted to wave goodbye-usually the sign that the meltdown is imminent. To my great surprise, she waved good-bye, turned her back on me, and trotted happily into school.

Miracles do happen.