Grade One

First day today. It was a short one - just til lunchtime. After the past two days of rain, the clouds lifted and the sun came out for a cool fall morning. Schmoo had on her new clothes - her bright fushia skirt, her monkey sweater and after a stern talking to from her mother, her new monkey runners. She gets these funny ideas in her head about wearing certain things. I explained to her, in my stern voice, that I would be very disappointed if she chose not to wear the new runners that had cost a lot of money (and a trip to Spokane).

After dropping off Bean at preschool, we headed to the school to mingle with the masses. She was excited to see her friends, but a bit shy as well. She took her time making her way around the playground saying hello, returning a few times to me, to tell me one thing or another. At 8:45am, the bell rang and the kids filed into the school, with a line of grade one (and some other grades) parents in tow. We all stood at the back of the classroom as our kids found their names on their new desks. At 8:55am, I gave her one last smile and wave and made my way up the stairs and down the hill to work with a heavy heart. It's a weird feeling...one I've been holding onto for the last few weeks. I know that things will start to change now and I'm going to miss having my little girl around.

I finished up work at noon and returned to pick her up. Bean was booked into preschool for the whole day, so Schmoo and I got to spend the afternoon together. Lunch at a restaurant and then swimming. She was pretty excited to show off all the things she had discovered at the pool during summer camp. She jumped off the diving board many times, swimming over to the side of the pool unassisted and without a life jacket. We played shark attack in the shallow pool and went down the waterslide. We finished up at 3pm and headed out to pick up Bean.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. Schmoo came home and did her first homework assignment - tracing and copying the letters of the alphabet. Who knew she'd actually get homework on the first day!! We had a date at one of our rental houses for an inspection, so all headed up there for a visit. They have a 6 year old daughter (and our 15 year old babysitter) so the kids had fun playing with her while we looked around. Home for supper and in bed by 7pm. I have to admit I'm exhausted too tonight. So it's off to bed I go for an early night too. Tomorrow's the first long day for Schmoo and Bean and I will have the whole day to ourselves...well, we'll be sharing our home with Papa and a bunch of his friends over the lunch hour to watch England vs. Croatia on pay-per-view.