First day of school!

Ready to go!

Well, we survived.

The first day of kindergarten came and went, and I didn't even cry.

After kindergarten orientation last Thursday, I was less than impressed with the school, the teachers, the other parents...and because I would die before admitting that I was sad/scared/normal, I got pissy. "This is dumb," I kept repeating, when the teachers bypassed Ella for the kid behind her, or when we got stuck behind "allergy-parents" for 15 minutes while waiting to hand in our paperwork, and again when there wasn't enough room on the bus for Kat to ride around the block with Ella.

"Can't we school-choice her back to North Brookfield?" I whined, after noticing that perhaps the teachers weren't meeting our eyes as we proudly each held one of Ella's hands, reminding them that yes, they did in fact have a child with TWO moms, and no, it wasn't just a typo.

"Umm, we're in the wrong roles," Kat whispered. "You're supposed to be reassuring me." It's true...I'm usually the stoic one, the harder, sharper one who doesn't get sappy.

The weekend came and went, and last night we picked out clothes and made sure her take-home folder was all set, and this morning, I left for my own first day of school before the kids were even fully dressed. I gave her a couple extra hugs and then headed out the door. They waved and called to me from the bedroom window as I left, and that was that. 

Of course, my first free second I called Kat, and of course, everything was fine. She got on the bus like a pro, and the only person who cried was Ben, as he tried to chase the bus. (Then again, Ben cries when the waitress takes away the dinner plates, so maybe he's just a big cheez-ball. And yes, I meant "cheeZ".) 

When I got home, I went into Ella's room and asked her, "so, how did it go?"
E: (hiding under the covers) "I don't want to talk about it."
H: "Seriously?"
E: (leaping out of bed) "It was GREEEAAAA-TTTT" (think Tony the Tiger)


Apparently, it was great. I have a pre-teen on my hands, one who refuses to give the kind of answers we want--the fly-on-the-wall details were not going to happen. I think she answered every single question we asked with, "it was greeaaaaaaat!" and a big leap across the room, which for Ella, means she loved it, and she wants to go back.
Tomorrow: the first hot-lunch adventure.