Mara's First Day of Kindergarten - August 31, 2010

All set to go!

Sister Sonna isn't so sure about having her sister gone all day long. Sonna and I went to a coffee shop/bakery with some other moms and then we got a few groceries in Kalispell. Just before noon, Sonna said, "Let's go pick up Mara". Two days ago, Sonna was a little out of sorts and finally at night she cried, "I want to go to Kindergarten with Mara. I'm going to miss her". We tend to raise emotionally expressive kids. :)

Typically, Jedd will bring Mara to school and she will ride the bus home. So Sonna will have to wait til 3:35 this afternoon to see her sister. A long wait for Sonna to have her best friend come home.

Mara has her lunch, her backpack with school supplies, her fleece pillow and blanket for rest time, and lots of other supplies for the classroom. Quite a load!

Parents were invited to come and help their child get settled in. Mara worked on a farmer project for the hallway and Jedd encouraged her. Sonna waited and watched patiently.

Mara's cubby and hooks.

At 3:30 AM Mara called Jedd into her room. She wanted her nightlight adjusted and Sonna needed a blanket. At 4 AM Mara crawled into bed with us and started crying saying "I don't want to go to Kindergarten, at least I just want to go half days". I cuddled with her and reassured her that it would probably seem like a better idea in the morning. Up until that moment, Mara had only expressed full-blown excitement for kindergarten. She lay awake with me until nearly 6 AM hugging and kissing me and the baby and telling me she loved me a dozen times. We did Kissing Hand (children's book about a racoon who is nervous to leave his mom and go to school). It was a very sweet time. When my alarm went off at 7 AM she didn't even hear it. I woke her at 7:15 and she was ready to get dressed, eat a bowl of cereal, have her hair in a ponytail, and tell Jedd what she wanted in her lunch - half an apple, ham and cheese sandwich, and some banana bread that she helped me make. On the way to school we talked about summer being over and school marking the next season, fall. I said a prayer for Mara and our family. She seemed very calm. When we were getting out of the car three cars in a row rolled down their windows to greet Mara: Aiden from Sunday School, Sam and Liam, and Sarabeth from church. The first person we saw in school was her librarian, our pastor's wife, and then dear friend Ivy who hugged Mara, also a classmate. A pretty nice welcome!

I am betting Mara will have made 10 new friends by the end of the day and hoping she'll tell me at least a little bit about it!