In 8 Months Time

Let’s travel 8 months back in time, back to August 18, 2010. The day I thought about all summer long. The day I longed for yet feared at the same time. The day that my little girl would start school, Makayla’s first day of preschool.

6:45am the alarms go off and we are up and out of bed, the first day of our new routine. Let me also mention that we are not really morning people. Makayla does not like being woken up, I do not like being rushed and Philip does not like being late (or last). So back to 6:45am, we kindly wake Makayla telling her to start her “stretching” and she has a few minutes to get out of bed. We have 55 minutes to get out the door! We have teeth to brush, bodies to dress, hair to fix and breakfast to eat. Oh, and I have to get good pictures too. But we make it! All 3 of us load into the car and head down the street. We arrive at the school with plenty of time to spare. I snap a few more pictures outside the school and proceed to Makayla’s class room only to take a few more pictures. We help her hang her book bag and she settles into her spot at the table. As I snap more pictures, Philip pulls at my shirt telling me it is time to go. We give her tight hugs and a kiss, tell her to have a great first day and we will see her after school.  As I walk out of her class room, I look over my shoulder to see how she is doing. She gives me the biggest bravest 4 year old smile ever; I know she is holding the tears back as I am trying to as well. As we walk down the hallway the church bells chime 8 times, signaling the start of the school day.

The next few hours I continuously wonder how she is doing, was she brave enough to fight back those tears? Did she let a few fall? Would her teacher comfort her if needed? Is she having fun? Is she making new friends? Does she like her teacher? Will she want to go back tomorrow?

Finally 11:15 comes and we head back to school to pick her up. Her first day went great, she made new friends and her teacher is nice. She shows us the pages she made, tells us about how the day went and asks when she will go back again. We tell her tomorrow, and a little to my surprise she is excited about it! She can’t wait to go back and do center time with the kids at her table and go to recess where they play on the big playground.

Here she is, the first day of preschool:

The next 8 months fly by and here we are, May 19, 2011. A day I though little about until a few weeks ago. Makayla's last day as a preschooler at St. Pats; graduation day!

Many things have changed in the last 8 months. The alarm is now set for 7:10 and again at 7:20. At 7:10 we start with Makayla to get up. But she has stretched her stretching out to 10 minutes. At 7:20 she slowly rolls out of bed and makes her way to the bathroom. I have her clothes laid out in the living room for her to get dressed. Then she slowly makes her way to the bathroom again to brush her teeth, most mornings she ends up brushing them twice because she refuses to use toothpaste if we leave her alone with it. Then it is a battle to fix her hair, she now wants to do it herself which is great, but some mornings were are running so behind that we don’t have time for her to do it on her own. Next is the dreaded shoe conversation. What shoes I want her to wear vs. what shoes she wants to wear, I’ll tell ya, it was easier this past winter when everyday she wore her cowboy boots. But now with the warm weather and her own style, we spend more time than usual talking about shoes! But we make it to school on time, some days were closer than others, but we were always on time!

I walk Makayla to her classroom, help her hang her book bag up, get her folders out and give her a hug and kiss then rush off to work. There is no more worrying about holding the tears back. I know her teacher will comfort her if she is having a rough day, heck her friends help her out if they notice she is having a rough day. I know she will have fun and I know she has made many friends. My only worry for today is how will she handle the change and a new summer time routine come tomorrow morning?  

So, here she is again, the last day as a preschooler:

My baby girl has grown so much in 8 months. She has learned more than I imagined she would. She is more than ready for kindergarten. She has made me proud!