Landry has officially started the 1st grade. Thankfully she has declared "I love school!" That's a first for her, and has since been retracted, but at least I did hear those words come out of her mouth at some point. She has decided that school wouldn't be so bad if she could only sleep until 7am, instead of 6:30. I haven't mentioned to her that she often gets up before 7am when she doesn't have school. Why bother? She wouldn't believe me. She has officially entered the "I already know everything I need to know" zone. After all, she is 6 1/2. She has some serious life experience under her belt.
Landry's teacher is Ms. Gordon. We have heard wonderful things about her. She even had an article written about her praising her skills as an educator. Of course, this makes me smile and breathe a sigh of relief. Landry loved her Kindergarten teacher so much that I wasn't sure if she would be able to move on.
Landry had a half day on Thursday, getting out at 11am. I sent her a snack with a note saying how much we loved her and hoped her first day went great. When I picked her up, she had a huge smile on her face and said, "I got that note! And, I saw those M&M's you put in my Goldfish!" I loved it. Those are the little things I've looked forward to doing since before she was even born.
This is Landry's first time being in school for a "full" day. She gets out at 2:30, which means we eat lunch without her. Friday was her first full day, and we all felt her absence at lunch. Brian was off and we went to eat at our favorite BBQ place after we picked Nolan up at 11:45. We pulled out of the school and Nolan and Rin both became very vocal about us forgetting their sister. Nolan said, "We still need to get Landry!" Corinne was quietly reassuring herself with "Sissy's coming." When we got a table at the restaurant, I started setting it up for a party of five. It was a really strange and unenjoyable experience. When we got back in the car, Nolan said, "Can we go pick Landry up now?" I told him I would come back and get her in a little bit. He wasn't thrilled, but I think he was pretty certain that I was telling him the truth.
2:30 finally came. Landry got in the car and said "I love school!" She buckled herself in and I asked her how her first full day went. She said it was good, but "I missed my brother." Well, if you have children then you know that my heart warmed up a little with that statement. I told her how much Nolan and Corinne missed her. She walked in the door and gave Nolan a hug. They got along so well all afternoon. What's that old saying about absence?...
Overall, I think we are off to a great year. I'm baffled at what to pack for lunch everyday, but I'm sure I'll figure it out by the time Rin gets to this point. Schedules have become more packed an hectic, but for some reason I just love it. I feel the sadness of how fast time passes and how quickly children grow, but I have also seen enough loss to know that I should be immensely grateful for the fact that my children have the joy of experiencing these moments. So incredibly thankful for each breath I get to share with them. So thankful that I have a first grader. So thankful that I live in an age where technology allows me to document my feelings for my family in blogs, pictures and videos.
And while I've spent many hours pondering the fact that someone else spends more awake time with my child than I do, I have been given the gift of being aware that I need to make my precious few hours count even more. Not in teaching fundamentals of academics, but in cuddling, laughing, talking, and thanking our Creator.
