Katie Anne's First Day of School

On Monday, Katie Anne started back to "school" at her daycare.  We'd been building up the idea of going back for about two weeks, and she was on the fence about it.  In a way, she was really excited about seeing her friends and playing on the playground.  On the other hand, she was not looking forward to leaving me and our summer routine to go back to school.  The night before school started, she picked out her Jessie shirt to wear, packed her backpack with extra clothes, and laid her school nap blanket out so she wouldn't forget it.  She was excited about school but nervous at the same time.

So, on Monday morning, she went back and forth between excitement and tears as we got ready for the day.  One of the funniest things about the morning was when I woke her up, she asked me (as she does almost every day), "What are we gonna do today?"  When I told her she was going back to school, she started crying and saying, "No!  This isn't happening!  This isn't happening to me!"  We don't know where she got that line, but Saunders and I secretly found it hilarious because she kept saying throughout the morning, "This isn't happening to me!" in her highly dramatic fashion.

Once she got up and got going, the excitement won out over the nerves, and she was ready for school.  Saunders was taking her, and that was a change for us - I've always taken her on the first day of school - but I knew I just couldn't handle the stress of a tearful drop-off.  So, I snapped a few pictures of her before the two of them left the house.  Katie Anne, in typical model fashion, was more than happy to strike a few poses in her back-to-school outfit!

She knew she was being silly - when Saunders asked her why she kept tilting her head and twisting like that, she said, "Because that is sooo cute, Daddy!"  Then, she busted out laughing:

Getting her backpack on:

"Daddy, let's GO!"

This is the last picture I took ... as she was saying, "Mommy, no more pictures."

The drop-off was a little rough - Saunders had to go through the heart wrenching "Don't leave me, Daddy!" experience - but overall she's really done much better this year with getting used to being at school instead of at home.  Her teacher, Mrs. Lakin, has been really impressed with her work this week and has had nothing but positive things to say about her work and behavior at pick-up every day.  According to Mrs. Lakin, Katie Anne is doing a great job on listening, following directions, and doing her work.  We are very proud of some of the big girl stuff she's been doing at school!

She's been tracing lots of numbers and letters:

Her coloring-inside-the-lines has gotten much better since last spring:

On Friday, the class did a little picture addition worksheet, and Mrs. Lakin just bragged and bragged on Katie Anne when I picked her up.  She said that she'd listened so carefully while the directions were read aloud and colored exactly what she was supposed to when it was time to work.  Mrs. Lakin said she's one of the most attentive kids in the class!  We're very proud of her hard work:

It is hard for me to believe that this is her last back to school day at a daycare ... next year, she'll be going to work with me in the mornings and attending pre-K!  She's growing up so fast!