I want it to be known - there were no tears shed today. Well, not by Mommy or Shaelyn anyway. Several tears were shed by Rachelle and Christian. Mainly about having to wait in the car. But Shaelyn was excited and I kept it together. Shocking.
A year and a half ago, I bought fabric to sew the girls some new dresses, with the intent of giving them to the girls for Easter. Yesterday I dusted off the sewing machine and finally made those dresses. Perfect timing, because it gave Shaelyn something "new" and "pretty" to wear to school today. That's right - go ahead and nominate me for Unintentional Super Mom.
When we got to school, Shaelyn put her backpack away, gave me a kiss, and scanned the room for the most Shaelyn-appropriate toy. Bingo. Mom walked away, brought the two other kiddos home, and took a nap while Christian played in the swing and Rachelle watched Sesame Street. Keep those Super Mom nominations coming.
I felt like the only mom not wearing tennis clothes while dropping my kid off this morning. In reality, the tennis moms were in the minority, but now that 2 of my close friends are playing tennis while their kiddos are in school, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on something. Perhaps it's for the best. No one wants to see my post-three-babies body in a tennis skirt anyway. Me and Ginny Weasley Potter have that in common these days.
I'm excited and anxious about this new chapter in Shaelyn's life. As part of her orientation, us parents had to fill out a student questionnaire, filled with questions to help the teacher get to know Shaelyn better and know how to best teach her. "What are your child's strengths?" and "What are your child's weaknesses?" and "Does your child have any fears, and if so, what are they?" We don't like answering these questions about ourselves as adults, much less have anyone answer them on our behalf based on their observations. I tried very hard to be objective, while at the same time being very generous with the strengths and very short on the weaknesses. I don't need one more person labeling my child. I happen to think she's pretty great!
Turns out, today was a success. She was bursting at the seams to tell me the details of her day. She made new friends, started a family flag, spelled her name out with Cheez-it letter crackers, danced to some music, and went potty. She also had two birthday party invitations put into her backpack that we discovered at home.
With 18 kids in her class, the girl is going to need her own social calendar.
Maybe tomorrow while she's at school, I can tackle those crayon marks all over our walls. That will clinch the Super Mom nomination for sure.
