First Day of Kindergarten

What a day! It wasn’t at all what I expected. I don’t know if we made too much of a big deal about it or if she understood how much this day meant to all of us? She went to daycare and preschool just fine but the first day of kindergarten will definitely stand out.

It started the night before, we did our usually routine of getting ready for bed. Audrey even washed her face and brushed her teeth without me telling her. I was impressed. We curled up in bed and mom read the book, Off To Kindergarten. Not a good choice, Audrey was not happy. After reading, I said good-night but she kept calling me back into the room. Okay, you want to talk about it? She did.

“What if I don’t make any friends?” That’s a ridiculous question. My daughter the social butterfly has no problems making friends but I reassured her anyway. We talked a little longer and I put some music on to help lull her to sleep. Which took longer then usually. Everything was fine until 4:30 am when Audrey couldn’t sleep anymore and had to climb into bed with me. Which would be okay but mom couldn’t sleep either. I can’t let her see how nervous I was. We had a depressing morning and a disappointing drop-off at school. I figured she would come around when she saw how fun it was going to be.

Pick-up time, I wait for Audrey to come down the hall. Thank God she is holding a girls hand, her friend. I wanted to hear about everything but she wanted to tell nothing. She wanted to go home and not come back. Not what I was expecting. She was tired and hungry. She didn’t want to eat breakfast and only had a little bit of lunch. I made her a snack and proceeded with dinner. I had to turn away phone calls because Audrey wouldn’t talk with anyone. She ate some dinner and laid down in our bed to watch cartoons and talk with dad. They talked a little about her day. She seemed to perk up a bit but it went south real fast as she ran to the bathroom to vomit. The anxiety caught up with her.

By the end of the night, I explained how she will have to listen and follow rules. Two things she hates to do but I’m very strict on. I talked about some things she will do at school and how each day will be better. I had her willing to give it a shot ( but I would never let her skip school anyway) and she slept better the next night. She is still a little reluctant to go in the morning but she is making friends. Her and two other friends walked to their classroom today and it was the first positive start of the day, with smiles. I even got a kiss and a hug, which I really needed. Below are some pictures of her on her first day.

It took awhile for the smile to come out.