Kindergarten Here I Come!

I had a pit in my stomach on Friday morning. I knew it was going to be an eventful day. At 6:30 AM, as I was getting ready in the bathroom, I heard soft singing coming from Abby's darkened bedroom. As it is extremely unusual for her to be awake so early, I did a bit of eavesdropping before I opened her door. Her song went something like this, "I'm going to be a kindergartner, la la la la la...I'm going to be a kindergartner, yay yay yay yay yay!"

By the time I left (fifteen minutes later) she was up, dressed in an outfit she had somehow determined her "school outfit" and had her backpack packed and ready. The poor kid had a long wait until her 2:00 "Kindergarten Round Up" meeting at my school.
I could hug whoever sent out the kindergarten papers a few weeks ago, announcing this much anticipated meeting. Included among the school records, contact information, immunization records, etc. was a checklist on how to know if your child is ready for kindergarten. Abby insisted that I read every single page to her and when we came to this list, she said, "Let's take the test to see if I'm ready!" We commenced to drill her on her letters, numbers, coordination, and listening skills. She was passing with flying colors until we came to item #18 "Cleans up after self". Uh oh. Abby looked up at me with her purple crayon poised tentatively over the little white box next to #18. "Can I mark it off mommy? I know how to clean up after myself."
"True," I replied, "You KNOW how to clean up after yourself, the question is, do you?"

"Hold on a sec," she shouted over her shoulder as she rushed down the hall to her room. In no more than 5 minutes, that little girl had folded her laundry, made her bed, and put her toys away - miraculous! That chore usually takes at least 10 reminders, a lot of whining and 30 minutes! Needless to say, she's ready. Now all I have to say instead of nagging is, "Kindergartner's know how to clean up after themselves." and the chore is done. Awesome.

Isaac, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to puke at the idea of being away from his big sis for THREE. WHOLE. HOURS. EVERYDAY. Poor little guy, he's pretty attached to that girl.

Abby had a great time touring the school, meeting other kindergartners and her teacher.

She even got a chance to ham it up a bit with our awesome principal, Mr. Quist.

It's going to be so much fun to have my own little girl at school with me every day, but I'm still a bit freaked out by the whole idea of her as a kindergartner. The kid can't even reach the drinking fountain for heaven's sake!