First Day of School

Yesterday was Jaina's first day of school.

The only one who was not excited was Mom. See... Dad's excited (Yes, this IS his excited face)...

Jaina was excited (Not her most convincing excited fact :).....

Mom was anxious, and not at all excited....

It seems too soon. It seems I was just cradling her, watching diving on the Olympics, and wondering if I would ever sleep again. Oh wait, that was four years ago....

And it started to show. On Sunday, for some strange reason, I could NOT stop tearing up. I would look at her, and cry. Mike would try to console me, and I'd cry. I came up with every reason in the book (because I just KNOW that she is going to get lost wandering around the school, and then some creepy person will come snag her,) to determine why she shouldn't go.

Jaina would hug me, and say "It's okay, Mom, I won't let you down." I cried harder.

But, once I tucked Jaina into bed, that is when I had to pull myself together. If for no other reason, I had started to scare her. Suddenly, she felt she was too little to go to pre-school, what if kids were mean to her? What if she got left when the daycare bus took off? And what about that dreaded red light?

I had to stop myself right there. Erica, you have got to pull yourself together.

So preshool, here we come...

After walking to school with one of her best buddies, we realized that Mrs. P had already decorated her locker to celebrate Jaina's birthday! What fun!

And to add to it, we brought treats!

How could pre-school be so bad?

And once I saw the lines (Mike had consoled me by indicating that pre-schoolers NEVER go anywhere alone, and always in a line), I took a deep breath, kissed Jaina good bye, glanced one more time down the hall. And left. And then I went shopping.

So, all in all, it was a good day. :)