Anna's first day of first grade

I have a few minutes before starting work (and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet so there's little point in starting to work early ;o)), and as I mentioned yesterday in my post, here are the pictures from Anna's first day of first grade last week. We've been in school one week and one day now, as of today. Hooray!

It's 6:45 am, you first grader, you! Wakey-wakey!! (Alternate title: That's one tired girl at 6:45 am this morning. Definitely the first time she's seen that time of day in 3 months….)



Grandma Judy took her shopping for some birthday clothes and school clothes when Anna was in so. Oregon the last week of August, and Anna picked out this outfit all by herself--mostly because of the necklace attached to it. She's only seven and she's starting to love jewelry already…God help me (or her future boyfriends or husband)



Mercifully, she was excited enough about the first day of school and seeing her friends again that she moved pretty quickly Tuesday morning…meaning, I didn't have to nag her to hurry up quite as often as I did 98 percent of the time in kindergarten. I give it two weeks or so before I'm constantly nagging every morning….(Then again, I'm also trying to wake her up a bit earlier, to give her more time to get coherent and dawdle in the bathroom--the girl takes FOREVER to pee in the morning right after she wakes up--so maybe I won't have to nag quite so much. Keep your fingers crossed for us. ;o))

I bet I won't see a happy, smiling face like this at breakfast after this week…


….A morning person she is not, and her dislike of the 6:45am wakeup will start outweighing her excitement and enthusiasm for friends and school in about a week or two, I project. ;o)

And lest you think she was all smiles and giddiness before 7:30 this morning, trust me: there was plenty of this look too. A half-awake, rummy, ten-mile-long stare. (Hell, I had them too. ;o))


Lo and behold, the zipper on the last backpack finally gave out at the end of kindergarten after using it for three years, so she got to get a new one. Still Disney Princesses, of course. She might be seven now, but she shows no signs of losing interest in them yet….


Like last year, we managed to get ready and out of the house in plenty of time, and I, of course, took the usual pictures on the front step. (Click on the links to see them from the first day of preschool two years ago, kindergarten last year, and the last day of kindergarten.) Here's the outfit she insisted she wanted to wear the first day of school…regardless that it was supposed to be (and was) 89 or 90 degrees that day.


A sure sign that trends and popular items aren't lost on a seven year old: she REALLY wanted to get a pair of Twinkle Toes for school, was super-excited when we bought them a week before school started (and even wore them home from the store), and she insisted on wearing them the first day of school….


And $40 for a pair of shoes…sigh. At least she should be able to wear them all year…and they are pretty stinkin' cute.





Here we are, walking into the school a few minutes later. And you know, it's a lot harder than one might think to hold your kid's hand, walk, talk, take a picture with a heavy DSLR, and actually get it in focus, all at the same time. ;o) (It didn't work last year, but I managed to get it this year.)


Funny how a backpack doesn't look so huge as a seven-year-old first grader…and a tall one at that (she's about 50" tall already…taller than I was at age 9…oy).


Anna hadn't met her new teacher yet, but I had at Back to School Night the week before school started, while Anna was at Grandma Judy's house. Really, I only went to let the teacher know the usual D-E-A-D D-A-D-D-Y info, which went uneventfully and quickly (although it's always a bit awkward to drop on an unexpecting teacher, regardless that it's old news). Anna's teacher seems really nice, and I couldn't be happier with her. Poor Anna, though: most of her friends are in the other first-grade classroom. Welcome to life, kid; your friends aren't always there with you. Hopefully she'll make many new ones before long (and besides, lunch and recess are with the other class anyway, so she'll still see them plenty).

And speaking of lunch….Since her kindergarten was only 3 hours last year, first grade means something new and delightful: a FULL SIX HOURS OF SCHOOL!!!

Oh, and lunch at school, too.



An easy price to pay (and a few minutes of prep the night before or morning before school) for six sweet hours of freedom….

I showed Anna where her desk was…



…introduced her to her teacher…

…took a few more pictures…


…and then I left.

Woohoo!

Six hours of school means that I can actually work kid-free and in blissful peace and quiet--I can actually get stuff done! lots of stuff! when I say I'll get it done! I can think!

It's been heavenly.

Fortunately, Anna's loved school and first grade so far too, and as of a week in, she hasn't started lamenting about the early morning wakeups and being tired yet. Knock on wood….

Me, on the other hand….I still need to learn how to go to bed earlier, and I need to have better luck at getting a good night's sleep. I kept waking up a lot in the middle of the night last week and had a hard time falling asleep, and the stupid cat doesn't help matters much some nights.

But did I mention those beautiful six hours of freedom? ;o)