First (and Second) Day of School

Well, the day finally came. Ella's first day of kindergarten. This is her first time going to school, ever. She never did preschool. And here's the obligatory first day of school picture:

All she did for her first day was go with me to have a 30 minute orientation-type group meeting with her teacher. And that's it. Not much more to say about it.

Now, the second day, that was much more exciting. This was the day she would get to ride the bus and go to school for real. I was going to drive her just to make sure she got where she was supposed to go and then let her ride the bus home, but Anton made me feel bad about depriving her of her first bus ride, so I changed my mind. So off we set this morning to the bus stop.

Alex kindly lent Ella the lovely blue and red backpack she's wearing. Her's hadn't come in the mail yet. We didn't see any other kindergartners at the bus stop. We'd met one other girl at orientation the day before, but she didn't make the bus.

But that didn't stop Ella from being BEYOND excited. For days now she's been asking how many days before school, and then the morning of she kept asking me how many more minutes before we got to leave.

She kept a very diligent watch out for the bus. And then it was time.

The bus pulled up and the kids all filed on. There were already three kids in almost every seat on the bus. I told the driver that this was her first bus ride and first day of school, and she told her to go find a seat. And the only seat left? The one in the back. The very back of the bus. I felt so bad for her having to wander past all those other kids trying to find a seat amongst all those strange faces. And I could only see the top of her head as the bus pulled away. I wasn't sad at all until that moment thinking how overwhelmed she must be feeling. But never fear, I promptly called the school and told them I expected there to be seats saved in the front of the bus for the kindergartners from now on.

So Alex and I wandered home.

Where he proceeded to whine about how bored he was and how I needed to come play with him. He was underfoot the whole time I was exercising. While I was in the shower he answered my phone (which he's never done before). Thankfully it was just my sister. Then he came back in the bathroom to let me know that someone was knocking on the door and he had answered it and they were still there. WHAT?!?! So I toweled off quickly and stuck my head out my bedroom door and called to see if they were still there. Sure enough, my front door was wide open and the missionaries were there. They couldn't see me, which I'm sure their delicate teenage minds appreciated, and they asked if I would like them to shut the door as they left. Um, yes, please.

So while Ella was off having a grand day at school. I got stuck with the high-maintenance child.

We went back and collected Ella at noon, where I had to grill her to find out what exactly she had done the whole day. I got no response by just asking what she did. I had to ask, "Did you sing a song? Did you read a book? Did you color a picture?" And if I happened to hit on the right activity she would tell me what they did. It was arduous. But we made it through the first day, and I'm sure the craziness will become routine soon enough. Though I'm not sure that's a good thing.