I didn't cry!

Let's go ahead and get that out of the way right now. Dave accused me of having a heart of stone, but honestly, I think it was a combination of being frazzled due to running late this morning and having my emotional breakdown ahead of time. Which was nice, because Mabes didn't see it. I was doing fine until last night when Dave said, "You know, she can be crazy sometimes, but I really hope school doesn't change her one bit. She's pretty awesome." And I lost it.

She was so excited, but was pretty patient while we took pictures. Schools here do a staggered start for kindergarten, so even though school started last Wednesday, because of where we fall in the alphabet, Mabes started today with only a couple of other students. Tomorrow, her whole class will be there. She met her teacher and saw the classroom last week at an open house, so she felt pretty confident strolling in. She greeted her teacher, sat down, and was ready for the day.

We left, and Annabelle and I had a pretty busy day of errand-running and cleaning. And of course I had to make cookies for Mabes to come home to for her first day. We went to pick her up, and as I saw the teachers bringing the kindergartners out for pick-up, Mabes looked awesome. Not crazy, not shy--just comfortable and very grown-up. As soon as she saw me, she had a huge smile on her face and said, "Mommy, I LOVE kindergarten!"

We got home, ate cookies, talked about her day, and called the grandparents. I can't remember who she told what, but here's pretty much her answer to "how was your first day of kindergarten?":

"It was awesome! We played wif puzzles and we made a raccoon puppet because we read Dah Kissing Hand and we learned about raccoons and how dey go to school but dey go to school at night because raccoons are awake at night and sleep during dah day and den we played wif musical instruments and I took a test on dah computer about letters and rhyming and maf and I was dah best, well, dah lady helping me said I was perfect and I know I did great and we went outside to play and a boy in an orange stripe shirt chased me and a girl in a pink shirt around and I didn't like it so I ran fast like a cheetah and hid in a hole and tried be camouflaged and yelled 'you can't find me!' but den he found me so I had to run fast like a cheetah again and den for lunch we went to dah cafeteria and I could get whatever I wanted and I got cereal with marshmallows and raisins, macaroni and cheese, pear, chocolate milk, and CANDY! It was a really fun day."

Aaaaaand breathe. So yes, she enjoyed her day. Everyone promised me she'd be exhausted after a long school day, but that hasn't hit yet. Maybe tomorrow? When she told me about her lunch, I was a little nervous about what she may have purchased. I put money in her account and then she can pretty much buy what she wants with her number. I realized later I didn't go over menu options and talk about limiting what she got. Fortunately, with the system the school uses, I can check her purchases online. Turns out she bought the standard lunch and the "cereal with marshmallows" was trail mix, and she didn't buy any extra desserts or rounds of chocolate milk for her entire class.

She can't wait to go back tomorrow.