Kindergarten - Cooking, Crafts and Crying!

Warning upfront - this is a LONG post so bear with me!

I'm late posting this but you'll have to forgive me, I couldn't see through all the tears in my eyes :/


This post serves as a tribute to those moms who, like me, decide to make their baby the smartest cookie out there. I purchased educational toys, I read everything to her, I was pointing and enunciating and yes ma'am-ing and researching everything and... WELL, the time to hand over the reigns was upon me and I realized it wasn't about whether she was ready (because she was) but rather if I was ready... to let go.

Well, as you can imagine, I was no where near ready... If Kindergarten was a train stop, I would've let the life train's doors open and sat looking around at every other 5 yr old's mom get off.  When the doors closed and the train started moving again, I would've asked someone if that was the Kindergarten stop and said, "O woes me, it appears as if I've missed the stop for Kindergarten!!" *all dramatic with my hand on my forehead and everything - LOL.

But this wasn't a stop, it was more like a GO and, with Munchface and hubby teamed up to make it happen, there was no way out. So I made it my mission to enjoy every minute.  Pardon me, but I DID. I closed my eyes and I calculated every move preparing for school.  Read on to hear more about my journey to letting go... a little... well, maybe.

First, there was Back-To-School night... Where the enemies friendly school staff welcome you and give students an opportunity to see their classes and meet their teachers.  We went:

O and earlier this Summer, I researched and shopped for the best book bag on the market. I found the MacKenzie collection from Pottery Barn... I loved that pre-school size was large enough to hold her binder but small enough to FIT her tiny back... They come in all sorts of colors and you can even personalize them. I wasn't going to personalize to avoid strangers calling her by name and I THOUGHT Munchface would be bummed but UM, nope! Her response? "It's ok, mommy. Just put 'Cool Girl' on it." So, Cool Girl it says.

You know how I am with family traditions and I already told you I need to enjoy every minute so, we started our Kindergarten Eve celebration at the nail shop.  Pink and white nail crackle was rock star enough for us.

Then, Z said she wanted to make US dinner to say thank you for everything (I tellya, I think she can sense when I'm emotional and tries to be all cute and junk - ugh, I heart her).  So, we had to shop for her special pizza and dessert supplies.  Way to go Chef Z:

She dumped some grapes in bowls and called it fruit salad.  When I told her you needed more than 1 thing for it be a salad... THIS is what I got:

For dessert, we also made apple cookies with pre-bought, pre-sliced cookie dough (just press pretzel sticks on the top when they FIRST come out of the oven and voila) - DELISH!

Munchface shopped the house for her "restaurant supplies" and set the table...

It was a great little dinner by candlelight. ALTHOUGH, I know hubs was trying to egg me on to cry all night. UGH! Lol.

With our backpack, THE OUTFIT and all of the 50 kabillion supplies, the first day was here and MAN were we cute:

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AND YES, there may or may not have been tears...

And more tears...

And tears while being held by hubby after the bus pulled off... O and yes, I had no idea he was videotaping (you see the iPhone) and smiling about the whole emotional moment.

A mess.

So, yes, the bus came and she was off... and, yes, I was crying but she was off...  She couldn't carry all of her supplies so I took them to the school and suddenly the school went from the place of all my mommy fear to seeming warm and even fuzzy...

Stepping into Kindergarten

We Bee-long together...

I passed supplies to cute Mrs. Downs... Then cried my eyes out and couldn't find the tissue box because, apparently, they need to keep them at kids' height-ugh! Imagine me blinded by tears wandering around the room looking for a tissue. Luckily Cool Girl the Notforgetter wasn't there to witness and probably BAN me from ever coming back... LOL. 

I went into the hall and waited for the bus... and I waited and waited... 19 minutes later, I spotted the polka dot back pack and big blue bow, Z was making her way to class with her hallway escort.  She saw me and smiled; I think we offered each other just a little comfort in that moment.

With her back pack put away, she sat down and got to work... As if to say, "mommy, I'm good!"

I knew after this embrace from our friend Kimberlee that Munchface was in good hands so I (left and came back and left and came back) left.

After a LONG day, mommy couldn't take any more work so we went to iHop for dinner... Did you know Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays? AND they offer crafts and movies? I mean, sounds like my kinda hang out!

UPDATE: We're an awesome Kindergarten family... She's brought home her first artwork:

 We've completed our first take-home project (an all about me collage on a cutout sent home from school):

AND MAN, Kindergarten isn't what it used to be. Students get custom handwriting practice for their names! Isn't this AWESOME:

My little-big girl's first day of Kindergarten on September 26, 2011 taught me that life is a recipe of equal parts holding on and letting go.  She started life with us holding tight to protect her from danger and Kindergarten is the beginning of us holding her little hand guiding her through life... It's bittersweet but I'm sure I'll be holding the purse strings and check books for a while now :)  So I think I can manage :)