Orientation

Yesterday, my youngest went to her first Kindergarten orientation. I say first because there really is another orientation for her. Seriously, remember when we went to kindergarten? We were dropped off, told not to cry and that was about it.

She was so excited about the orientation. When she went to go pick out her clothes, she picked out something nice without me even telling her. When we were in the car, she was bouncing up and down in her chair...she couldn't keep in her excitement.

When we got to the school, she was ready to go to class. But she had to sit for a little bit for opening remarks, etc. While we were waiting, a girl came over and was smilling and started to do a long drawn out "Ohhhhhhhh...." I had no clue who she was. And then she asked, "Are you Kaylee? I'm your sister's big buddy! I'm so happy to meet you!" Well, if that didn't make Kaylee feel special. And of course, Kaylee was lucky enough to be in her sister's big buddy group for orientation. And so cute, this big buddy who is in grade 6 came back afterwards to say that Kaylee was extremely sweet and great. Thanks for taking her around big buddy!!

And when we left, each kid, all 36 of them got a goody bag that must have been worth over $10. Holy smokes! Talk about getting kids excited! And there was some good stuff there. While we left, she talked non stop about how fun it was, what she saw, friends she met, etc. I loved it! I know that this transition will be a wonderful one for her and one that won't be traumatic.

What I remember from this orientation is that my kid is ready to go to a big school. This is my baby going to a big school and though I think she's big, she seemed so small in this school. And though I try to help my kids in making good decisions for themselves and learning about life, when I saw how tiny my kid was this afternoon, I just wanted to take her in my arms and shelter her from all that's bad about life. I know this is just step 1 of learning to let go in some form or fashion. It wasn't difficult with the eldest because I knew I still had one more kid. This time it's different. I still can't believe my baby is ready for kindergarten.....