And we have a Kindergartener

After Lissie graduated from pre-K back in May, I knew I wanted to make the most of the summer. I even opted not to work the month of July at my school's summer camp so that I could be with my own children because I knew that our lives were going to change when Lissie started big-kid school.

I'll do a separate post on our summer (hopefully) soon, but here are my thoughts on Lissie as a Kindergartener:

I know that I have been blessed to be able to stay at home with my kids for as long as I have and, when I did start working (part-time), it's been at their preschool where I can still pop in to check on them if need be which is probably why this inevitable transition to kindergarten is hitting me hard. She's my oldest, of course, as well as my shyest. She's been with me pretty much day in and out for the last five years, and while she's oh-so-smart and absolutely ready for kindergarten, she's also my timid little introvert who is used to hiding behind me (or her not-shy-at-all little brother) to be her voice.

Which is why I'm so very grateful that we've opted to send her to the same school where I taught for several years leading up to Lissie's birth. I know she'll be in excellent hands - the teachers are amazing, and I even "mentored" her kindergarten teacher when she first started at the school! Even better is that it's such an intimate setting and she's in a class of just eleven kiddos - and she's already familiar with three of them either through church or old friends. It definitely makes letting her go a little bit easier.

Luckily in the craziness of the day, I didn't have the tears that I thought that I would be choking back.

This boy had a really tough time letting her go.
Tears and fussing until he realized we were going to a Boo-Hoo special breakfast afterwards.

In fact, I know that I'm going to enjoy the extra one-on-one time with Xavier as a result of this, especially since I have almost two weeks before the two of us start school back up, as well!

Thrilled to have our special time now.
We opted for a trip to the library for storytime this morning!

But it's still hard thinking about my baby girl growing up. Yesterday, on her specially requested trip to the splash pad to celebrate her last day before beginning her formal education, I couldn't help but ponder the cliche'd "where in the world did the time go?" And I just have to hope, pray, and trust in God that I'm laying the best possible foundation for her to build on now that she'll be in school with more outside influences beyond my control.