Can Andrew have a sleep over?

Kailin came home from school yesterday talking all about a new friend. Andrew. "Can Andrew have a sleepover someday?" "No, honey, probably not." "But WHY? I want him to sleep over!" "Well, you're a little young for sleepovers." She bought it.

I inquired further and discovered that Andrew is not actually in her class. He rides her bus. She says he's nice to her and talks to her on the bus. She doesn't know what class he's in or how old he is or who his teacher is. Figures.... ha ha ha.

It's very cute to me that she's having little conversations on the bus that have her endeared enough to ask for a sleepover. Maybe my little birdie is turning out to be more of a social butterfly than I expected!

the dawning of a new age...

The age of Aquarius...oh no wait...that's not where this was headed...

As of September 3, Kailin is officially in school. There is no more home all morning, jammies til 10am some days, breakfast whenever she feels like it. There is now a regimented schedule culminating at 7:45 when I herd six kids out the door and down to the bus stop and then make sure that 2 of them are in the bus line and that the other four are definitely NOT.

I was worried about the first day. Kailin is a bit (understatement) shy in new situations, and when we visited her school and met her teacher on Tuesday of last week she completely clammed up and didn't speak a word the entire time. She got to see her locker, meet her teacher and the aide, put her supplies away, and check out the room. She enjoyed it, and told me afterward that she was excited to go back (thank you, God!), but I was still a little worried. We read a lot of the Berenstein Bears First Day of School last week. --Partly because I felt like it was keeping the "let's go to school! Rah! Rah! Rah!!" momentum going and partly because I've loved that book since I was a kid (the big barrel of clay always looks so fun to me!).

For my part, I think I psyched myself up too much about the end of an era and that she'll never just be home with me again. It will always be summer break or Christmas break or spring break from now on if we have the luxury of lazy mornings. But you know what? When the time came, Kailin merrily boarded the bus, slid into a seat, and smiled and waved as the bus pulled away. I didn't even shed a tear. Colby was a bit of a different story, I'm afraid. First he tried chasing the bus down the sidewalk and then determined that he'd just stay at the corner with tears streaming down his little face and call for Bubbee until she came home again. I finally convinced him that she'd be home at lunch time and that he would see her soon enough and carried him on home.

My heart was bolstered further when she climbed happily off the bus at lunch time (after stopping to talk to the bus driver for a minute - about what, I don't know) and then went into great detail about all the things she'd done and how excited she was to go back. It's always been like nailing jello to a tree to get any details out of her about the goings on at Chinese school or Sunday School, but this was the polar opposite. She told me all about "The Kissing Hand" book and coloring ("Mrs. Hokanson says to stay in the lines") and playing in the house only when the light is on....and on and on. I'm so excited that she loves it so far, and so excited that I can feel free to let her move on to this next chapter of her life without any guilt that I'm pushing her for her own good or that she wasn't ready or that I should've kept her home one more year.

And today, on her second day of 4k, she again happily lined up for the bus, directed me "don't come to my school and watch today"(I assured her that I couldn't possibly do so with all the kids here at home), hopped on that bus and smiled and waved excitedly as it drove away. I know it won't always be this fun for her, or this easy for either of us. But for now I'm going to soak it up and encourage that bright little birdie of mine to venture out away from the nest, explore her world, and be open to all the things it has to offer. Colby only just needed to hold my hand awhile today when his beloved Bubbee rode away, so there's hope for him yet, too.