Ember's first day

So here is Miss Ember and her first day of preschool, as promised.

almost ready to leave

Went straight to work

Seems to be thinking: are they going to leave yet?

She is very comfortable at Ms. Pat's because Amelia went there and of course Ember always came for drop off/pick up. She even got to spend a couple of classes there - last year's Halloween party and the end of the year party.

Her drop off was even easier because she just went right in and knew what to do, probably wouldn't have noticed we were leaving if we didn't make her stop colouring to say goodbye (hence the annoyed look in the above photo). Also there are only nine kids in her class whereas there were hundreds of kids at Amelia's school plus all the parents for the primary grade drop off. It was pretty overwhelming.

Now as I look back at Ember's photos, I feel a bit teary. Mostly because she's my baby, but also because she has changed so much. It seems like Amelia has looked the same for the past few years, the only changes are her height and hair length, but Ember seems to have changed the most over the past two years. It's hard to say if that's true, I see them every day so I can't tell.

Anyway, now I have to find something to do with myself for 2.5 hours every Tuesday and Thursday! That shouldn't be hard.... I have a to do list longer than my arm.

Also, some good news! I will be taking care of our neighbour's little girl starting in October. Tayler is the same age as Ember and is enrolled in the same preschool. Her parents are both military and very, very busy. They were unhappy with the daycare she went to and we talked about it and here we are! We look forward to having someone else to play with.

First Day of Primary (Kindergarden)

Well, summer came and went again. Here we are and it's almost fall again. Everyone tells you how quickly life goes with children, but it never seems like it until that first day of school when you wonder to yourself, "where did that last five years go?"

I didn't feel any sadness dropping her off (I didn't even cry!) just pride and happiness. Not in that "yes! one down,  one to go!" way but in a "wow, my little girl is so big and mature and I'm so proud of her!" She is really ready and seems to be adjusting well.

Packing up our gear in the morning

Not wanting a photo taken on the walk to school

Ron caught her off guard

This one sums up her feelings right before the bell rang. This one kind of breaks my heart.

Just before we left the classroom

The succession of pictures shows her mood changing the closer we got to school. She was definitely nervous and probably overwhelmed the first morning, but she came running out with a big smile at the end of the day and I knew everything was great.

She has a few little buddies in school with her, one who is in her class, and hopefully more friends to come. Like me, she's shy so I'm working on helping her learn how to talk to other kids and ask if they want to play. It's so much easier to learn those things when you are (almost) five than when you are in your thirties.

Speaking of almost five, I'm going to have pictures in a few weeks of a 5th birthday! I'll also post pictures of Ember's first day of preschool next Tuesday.