1st Day of "School"

Yesterday was Sophie's 1st Day of "school" at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. She will be going to school two days a week from 9-11:30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The first day yesterday was a shortened day (only 1 hour) during which parents were encouraged to stay. Sophie was very very excited to start school and we've been talking about it for many weeks now. Everytime we drive past the school, we'd tell her that was where she'd be going to school soon. So the excitement had been really building.

After Sophie got up yesterday, the whole house was excited for the big day. Sophie barely ate any breakfast (I think she was excited). And we all had to hurry up to be sure she got to school in time! Sophie got dressed in her back to school outfit (she had two choices of outfits and chose this one!). She picked which back pack she wanted to bring (the pink kitty Dee Ree gave her) and we headed outside to take a few photos. Unfortunately, she ditched the backpack for an american flag (and never would put the back pack on again) and we snapped a few pix under her favorite maple tree.

When we got to school there were kids and parents all outside waiting on the lawn. It was very exciting! And, then her best friend Nevyn showed up! We kept the fact that her friend Nevyn was also registering and attending the very same school on the very same days as her a surprise. Both Sophie and Nevyn were literally jumping for joy to see each other. Soon, the director opened the doors to the school and school was officially opened! Sophie literally bum rushed the door (and left me and baby emily and even Nevyn in the dust) and I had to call her and stop her and get her to wait for us instead of rushing in without us. We walked up to her new classroom and once she got inside she immediately started playing with all the great toys and puzzles and books left out for the kids by her teachers, Miss Jen and Miss Chrissy.

When she met her teacher for the first time, I was so touched because Sophie stuck out her hand to shake hands with her. Isn't that too cute??? After a little while of the total chaos of kids playing and parents snapping photos, Miss Jen and Miss Chrissy kicked out all the parents for a few minutes. We all made our way downstairs and outside to wait for them to bring the kids down and dismiss them.

Well, you would have thought it was a torture chamber in there. The howls and sobs from the open windows made all the parents anxious to know whose kids were losing it. After about 15-20 minutes passed (and I STILL have no idea what they were doing during that time - for all I know they could have been torturing them!) the kids came out down the stairs into the yard. Thank goodness Sophie was fine and did not look upset at all. Poor little Nevyn had clearly been one of the screamers and was all teary and red faced - poor little guy. But not my Sophie. I had a feeling she'd be fine and quite frankly, I think she's probably thrilled to be rid of mommy and baby Emily for a little while.

Finally all the kids got to play on the outside equipment which was just great because Sophie has always wanted to play there (we drive by it a lot on our way to do errands) and I always have told her no. What a great way to end a perfect first day of school, huh? Now we'll just see how it goes when Mommy leaves for real for the full two and half hours and who cries that time (probably mommy!).