All three littles had successful, tearless, awesome first days of school. Sofie and Buddy's first day was last Monday, the 10th. Yes, Buddy has moved up to the big show with Sofie. He's a P4 in Children's House this year, his first year at Border Star Montessori. Montessori groups classrooms as "Children's House" (3-5 year olds - P3, P4 and Kindergarten), "Lower El" (1st-3rd grades), and "Upper El" (4th-6th grades). Following this model they stay in the same classroom with the same teacher for three years in a row. Both Sofie and Liam started at 4 years old as P4s in Children's House.
The week before school started we were able to visit their classrooms, meet their teachers, and drop off supplies. For Sofie this was merely a reunion with her wonderful teacher, Mrs. C. She still had most of her supplies from the previous year in the classroom ready and waiting for her. She also got to meet a few of the new incoming 1st graders, since she's moving on up to big 2nd grader status this year. She was excited to see an old friend from her Children's House classroom will now be joining her class as a 1st grader. And of course her sweet little BFF, A., is still there with her this year! ;-)
After visiting Sofie's classroom we headed down to Buddy's new classroom to check it out and meet his new teacher, Mrs. S. Buddy has been semi-excited but mostly pretty nervous about going to a new school. He was happy to walk into an awesome, blue (his favorite color) classroom, with lots of nice classmates and a very sweet teacher. He really lit up looking at all the materials and different learning areas in the room, and he was all smiles even though he was pretty quiet. After we left, he buckled into his carseat, and I asked him if he was excited about his blue classroom and all the fun stuff he was going to learn from Mrs. S. Still all smiles, he quickly nodded and agreed that he was excited, but then he got super quiet and said, "But, Mommy, I'm a bit nervous." What a sweetheart.
So last Monday was the big day for these two. Their alarms went off and they both shot out of bed and were dressed, beds made, teeth brushed, and ready for breakfast within 5 minutes. The excitement continued into school, and they both went into their classrooms happy and smiling. I was a little worried about how Buddy would do at drop off, but he was a champ, bobbing and weaving his way into the classroom before I could even shout a quick goodbye to him.
My 2nd grader!!
My sweet little P4!
Children's House kiddos wear a name tag pinned to their backs in a plastic bag the first few weeks of school. This helps staff learn their names and where they belong. The bag is also a place to exchange notes between teacher and parents. I made a special, fun name tag for Sofie when she started Children's House, and Buddy got one too.
These two are looking so grown up. I can't believe they're in school together!
This was their last first day of school in this house!
Every year on the first day of school, we go get ice cream after school. It's become a tradition, and they look forward to it all day. We walked down the street to the newly remodeled ice cream store to talk about their first days. Sofie had a great first day, getting right down to business on some reading assignments. She had a big reunion with A. after not seeing her all summer, and was excited to meet some new friends, too.
Sofie and Buddy discovered that they both had the same support class on their first day, Art. They each loved hearing what the other did in art class with Mr. Van P. and thought it was really cool that they both have Art on Mondays. I was also really proud of Sofie for having a big sister moment and helping her little brother out at school.
She said she was going out with her class to recess, and as they walked by the cafeteria she looked in, thinking Buddy might be in there with his class. He was there, standing in line, and she saw he was crying. She wasn't exactly supposed to, and I think she got into a bit of trouble for it, but she went right to him to see what was wrong. He said he was sad because he missed Mommy and he was crying. She calmed him down and made him feel better. But she said, "He was crying, and sometimes when I see other people cry it makes me cry, because I feel sad that they're sad. So he was crying, and it made me sad of for him. So then I had a little bit of a fit, and I was sad too."
I said, "So you were both crying?"
"Yeah, because I was sad that he was sad."
"And I was sad, because I missed Mommy."
"Did you both feel better and stop crying then?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
So that happened. Really I was still proud of Sofie for helping him out, even though it caused a bit of a ruckus. It was a good big sister thing to do. They said they actually saw each other three times that day in the halls and around the school, which they both think is really awesome. It is pretty cute.
The littlest Little finally got to visit her classroom last Friday and meet her new teachers. Stella has many of the same classmates as last year, and was happy to see them. She was pretty apprehensive about the new room and new teachers, and was very quiet and shy - very non-Bitty qualities. She said she's a little scared to go to school. I think having Buddy there with her last year was a huge comfort to her, but she'll do fine once she gets used to how things are this year.
We absolutely love our preschool, and will be sad to leave it behind next year. All three kids have had great experiences there, year after year. This year Stella has two teachers, Ms. Carla and Ms. Diane. Both seem very nice and are familiar faces around the school from years past. I think she'll have a great year. She was excited to bring her school supplies in and to tell her teachers that she uses the big potty!
Today was her first official day of school. We walked onto the playground a few minutes early to play, and slowly met the classes as they started coming out. Once her class was there, I chatted with her teachers for a few minutes while she played and then gave her a quick kiss goodbye. She barely looked up from the little car she was playing with. I was so proud of my big girl!
She was full of first day smiles for me!
And silliness as usual. This is her signature face.
My sweet Bit!
That face! Orneriness!
Ready for her first day with backpack, My Little Pony lunchbox, and Lambie!
Stella had a great first day of school. She played hard, used the big potty, ate a good snack and lunch, and was napping hard when I picked her up. After we picked up the Bigs, she also got her first day of school ice cream treat. As a bonus for Sofie and Buddy, they both saw their best friends in the ice cream store, too. It was a semi-planned meeting between Sofie and A. (sneaks!) and a chance meeting of Buddy and H. He just about dropped the ice cream out of his mouth when she walked in and gave him a big hug. Dude is smitten. We're off to a great start this year. I can't wait to see what they all do!