Last night we had Alexa's Kindergarten Open House.
All day long I was so anxious and couldn't wait. I was so excited to meet her teacher, see her classroom and hopefully meet some of her classmates, too.
This was going to be it for me, the turning point in which I would feel 'ok' about my baby becoming a school-ager. I would know that she was confident finding her classroom and her way around the school. I would be happy knowing she knew at least one of her classmates. I would know her teacher on a personal level and know that she would be taking extra special care of my baby.
And then we drove into the parking lot....
....Walked into the school
And that's when I started to panic...
We walked among all the other children and their families taking their tours around the school, finding their lockers, visiting their new classrooms, filling out paperwork, signing up for parent/teacher conferences..ect.
I took a big deep breath and proceeded to walk towards the Kindergarten wing.
We ran into a neighbor of ours, which eased my mind a little bit. We knew SOMEBODY!!
We said our Hi's and Goodbye's and carried on our merry way to her classroom.
She recognized her teacher right away, so we knew right where to go.
(All the teachers were wearing 'Team Akin' tee-shirts - for Akin Road Elem. - I thought that was so cute) We checked her bus schedule and initialed our names next to it to verify it was all correct. Then, (deep breath) walked into her classroom. I'm not going to lie to you, and don't think I'm crazy, but the tears literally welled up in my eyes, that all too familiar lump formed in my throat and I wanted to just lose it right there.
And then this woman came up to me and asked, "Are you in mornings or afternoons?"
Catching a grip of myself, I quickly snapped out of it and answered, "afternoons".
She fluttered away on a search to find her son a friend in the morning classes.
I stood there for what seemed like an hour (but, was really only a few seconds) watching all the people move around me so fast, the parents reading through folders of information, kids running all over checking out their new room, listening to teachers explain what to expect the first day, the first week..ect.
Then another woman snapped me out of my hazy fog and asked us to find our childs folder. Alexa found her name and handed the folder to me. It was filled with more paperwork and info that needed to be signed and returned asap.
She explained that she was the one that helped the children on and off the bus. She formed them all into lines each and every day and walked them to and from the school, making sure each child knew where to go and what bus to get on. (Comfort!)
She greeted Alexa and asked if she'd found her 'mailbox' yet. She walked us over to a big wall filled with little mailbox slots and we scanned all the names until we found Alexa's right in the middle on the top.
Alexa by her mailbox
She was so happy to see her name. But, for me it just made everything more 'real'. This is it. My baby is a Kindergartener!! She has a mailbox!
Showing Lillian her cool new classroom
We looked all around her classroom, checking out all the cool activities she'll be doing, books she'll be reading and music she'll be listening to.
She could not wipe the smile off her face, which made me feel good.
She is ready! So ready!
Sigh!!
We visited with her teacher (Miss McCloskey) a bit and I think she'll be great with Alexa.
She's not the soft coddeling type, like I'd always envisioned her teacher to be. But, she'll be great. She'll be great...great...(I just have to keep saying it..)
She's a very sweet lady and Alexa really seems to respond to her, which is all I can ever ask for.
We even met a little girl named Emalie, who'll be in Alexa's class. She was wearing a dress, so I know her and Alexa will be tight. Ha! ;)
After touring around her classroom, we head out into the hall to find her locker.
It hit me again, to see her little name-tag. She's such a big girl, to have her own locker.
She shares it with a girl named Alexis. (Should we take bets to see how many times Alexa comes home with schoolwork, hats, mittens, notes..ect. that say Alexis?)
Standing by her locker
We made our way to the gym where there were tabled to sign up to volunteer for various things (you know...hearing and vision testing, picture day, book club, science fair..ect.), buy school apperal, sign up for sports, the lunch schedule and snack cart, boy scouts and girl scouts..ect.
Alexa thought she might like to try Girl Scouts (or Daisy Scouts) so we took some info and will attend the Open House later this month.
During this whole visit/tour of the school, Lillian was being on her worst behavior making my stress level rise to the very tippy top of my being. This was supposed to be about ME, making myself confident in this whole 'going to school' thing. Oh, I mean..Alexa, making Alexa feel confident. But, Lillian was pushing our buttons. She had it in her head that we were going to a 'party' and was expecting treats, balloons and cake.
Adam took her 'out' for a bit, so I could walk Alexa to the door she'd be coming in on off the bus, walk her to her classroom, and find her locker one more time. Just to be sure.
She was confident...I was confident.
I held her hand and squeezed it just a little.
We can do this, Alexa! We can do this...as the tears started to well up again...and that nasty lump found it's home back in my throat.
*****
When I got out of the shower yesterday morning I found Alexa laying all curled up in her blankie on the bathroom floor waiting for me. I looked at her and smiled, surprised to see her there. She smiled back up at me and said, "Five more days, Mommy".
I gave her a pouty face and said, "Baby, you are just growing up too fast...pretty soon you're going to be heading off to college."
She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said in her sassiest, Miss smarty pants kind of way, "Mom, I'm only five years old and you're already thinking about me going off to college...c'mooon, you got problems." And then she giggled.
And I giggled, too!!
I may have problems Miss Alexa Lynn, but I love you more than anything in the whole world, kid! You'll always be my baby!
I love you once, I love you twice, I love you more than beans and rice!
And don't you ever forget it!
