It's her first day of school - Caitie started school today... Preschool/Pre-K, whatever you want to call it. She goes in the afternoons, that's the only opening they had left. As I do most things, I procrastinated in getting her signed up for school. I waited until the last day, the last hour, even the last minute, really, to get her registered. She was signed up last Friday afternoon not long before the administration office closed and she started school today. Here are a few pics... (the pic on the left is of Caitie's name tag and my visitor's pass sticker; all parents entering the school grounds has to get clearance by the front office.)As I'm late for most, if not all, things, we were late for her first day of school. We probably would have been on time if it hadn't been for me wanting to get a 'first day of school' pic or two before leaving the house. Here she is at the front door, we were already late at this point, but I was determined to get the shot; I knew I would have regretted it later if I hadn't. This isn't the best pic, I didn't have time to plan it and get the best settings, etc., but at least I got a pic.
Here we are at school, outside her classroom. She has her 'Cars' backpack on; we got it for her a year or so ago, not for school, but because she thought it was neat and asked if she could have it. The kids need a backpack so they can carry their 'paperwork', or 'art', home each Friday. Why they have to take it to school and bring it home each day is beyond me, it would make more sense to just take it on Friday when it's needed.
Caitie did really well until she saw a little boy crying hysterically for his parents. They had just dropped him off and he was pretty upset about them leaving him behind. Caitie saw this and was on the verge of tears at this point, but I told her it was okay and that we would be back to get her in a couple of hours, and then I said to have fun, and maybe help the little boy out if she could. She seemed okay after the little 'pep talk'. Everything went smoothly after that. I stayed with her a few minutes to make sure she would be all right, I was able to get a few more pics due to this.
Here she is with her teacher, she was putting Caitie's name tag on. The teacher had all of Caitie's things, an apple in a tree, a cubby hole for her backpack, etc., marked with the name Caitlin, when I told her she's used to going by Caitie instead of Caitlin, the teacher said she would change all the name tags and stickers to Caitie; I told her Caitlin was okay, but she insisted on changing all of them.
Caitie is getting used to the classroom.
I took this one from the other side of the classroom door; it was open, but I was real quiet, so she didn't know I got this pic. The teacher was rounding up the kids to sit in a circle so she could introduce everyone to each other. Some of the kids are missing here due to bathroom breaks; I don't think I've ever seen so many kids in need of a bathroom break. I left soon after I took this pic.
We went to pick her up 2.5 hours later; I could not believe the traffic! It was like the whole neighborhood had shown up at the school, there were LOTS of cars parked everywhere possible; Michael dropped me off and he and Bailey just drove around while I went to get Caitie. Her class goes to a gated area on the school grounds when it's pickup time. When I got there, Caitie got a big smile on her face (this was nice to see) and ran to me, I then started running towards her to give her a big hug, but as we were doing this, the teacher's assistant grabbed Caitie and said no running near the street, which I understood, I then felt a little embarrassed about letting the 'running' happen. It's good they keep an eye on the children, especially near a busy street. In the pic below, the sun was bright, so Caitie shielded her eyes. I took pics of her first day of school experience, from the beginning until she was let out.
We were going to go for ice cream, but Caitie was really thirsty, so we got her an icee at the convenience store; a nice after school treat. As you can see, Bailey was sleeping in her car seat. Caitie enjoyed her first day of school and can't wait to go back. I would say all in all, it was an A+ day.
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