Savvy, Self-assured and in Second Grade!

It was a very easy send-off this morning for R - she is just so much more confident and at ease. We usually have a stressful week leading up to the start of school - more meltdowns, fits, and arguments. This year seemed a bit less traumatic. R did shed some tears at the thought of summer coming to an end and she seemed a tiny bit stressed upon hearing that she would not have the same teacher as last year, but on the whole things went fairly smoothly. The only thing that really stayed the same was the increase in the fighting between R and A this past week. A is ticked off that R gets to start school a week earlier than she does and that R gets to ride the bus. So, she has been difficult to deal with and it has rubbed off on R a bit (can't say as I blame her, though!). Although I had previously been lamenting the end of the summer this week was enough to make me more than happy that the first day of school has arrived.

This morning I went on my walk with Lauri and we got back just before 7am. To my great surprise the older two girls were awake and fully dressed. Can you say "first day of school excitement"? R had picked out her entire outfit last night per my instructions so we would not have any issues this morning picking out just what to wear. We had also made sure her shiny new backpack had lunch money in it and she put a few pencils in her new pencil case.

After breakfast I got showered and dressed and the girls worked on their newest fuzzy art posters for a few minutes. I got R's hair brushed and she went to put on her snazzy new sneaks. I had bought her tie shoes this year because she liked them but I wondered after almost a year of only velcro if she'd do OK with tying them. But, she proved that tying shoes is a bit like riding a bike and she did just fine getting them on and tied into double knots. A proud mommy moment!

Once she was geared up we headed outside for the usual photo op session and the traditional "picking of the brown-eyed susans for the teacher."

My big second grader!


Flowers for Ms. M.


This picture is the epitome of my three:
the fashionista/diva, the cool big kid, and the little imp!



Check out the snazzy new sneaks!


Sisters - big and small...


Barely taking the time to give me one last backward glance. The Savvy, Self-assured 2nd grader takes off for her first day.