Alyssa started Kindergarten, Amanda started 4th Grade

So yes, I'm working backwards in time here. A few weeks ago that much anticipated day finally arrived. At last, it was time to start Kindergarten! And 4th grade too, of course. Our morning went very smoothly. Except that we were ready way too early, which was a bit torturous for Alyssa who had waited long enough. (Years, people.) And didn't feel like waiting any longer.


My major worry was that Amanda would have to fend for herself when she was used to having me and my camera tagging along for her first day of school action, snapping photos right up until they have to ask me to leave. I knew she'd be nervous and I didn't want her to think that she suddenly didn't matter as much any more now that her sister had arrived on the scene. Of course she fed right into my guilt by announcing rather over-dramatically that she would probably be the only "parentless child in the whole class."

Oh, the tragedy! Orphaned at such a tender age by her annoying younger sister starting Kindergarten.

Alyssa and I walked her to her classroom, made sure she had some friends to wait with, and even snapped a photo or two before making our way to Kindergarten. Finally! My little orphan, Amanda did just fine, by the way. Most of her closest friends are in her class and she loves her teacher, who won the award for California's Outstanding First Year Teacher a couple of years ago. At the end of her first day, her teacher told me that what she'd learned about Amanda so far was that she's quiet and likes her own space. In an email she sent me last week, her teacher said this about Amanda: "She's doing very well. I enjoy her quiet, calm, insightful way!"


Now back to the first day of Kindergarten, Alyssa or "Alyssa T." as she'll be known this year (since some other parents had the nerve to give their child our child's name) did great. She marched right into that classroom like she's been there a million times before (possibly because she has been). She found her name tag and the teacher took our picture for her memory book. (Yes, they're going to make memory books! And yes, that's me, bringing cleavage to Kindergarten.)


Alyssa did get a tiny bit nervous once she was surrounded by all those new faces, but mostly she was just really excited. The parents were allowed to stay a while before the principal came to herd us into the Boo Hoo breakfast. Alyssa gave me hugs and kisses and then it was time for me to be a big girl and say good-bye.

Luckily I had plenty to do that morning so I didn't have time to fret about the fact that Alyssa was probably having so much fun that she didn't miss me a bit. One of the things I was working on was a "My Life in Five" project for Shutterfly. The idea was to choose five photos (actually 6 with a cover photo) and captions to represent your life. This was for a new hub on the Shutterfly website and the idea behind "My Life in Five" is to show others how easy it is to tell your story in photo books. A few photos and a few words and voila!

Normally I don't have a hard time telling my story but I was struggling with this assignment. Later I made this one about Alyssa starting Kindergarten just to help get myself in the groove. She helped me with the captions.

Alyssa's Life in Five


My name is Alyssa. I'm 5 years old and guess what? I just started Kindergarten!


The night before school started I was so excited! My mommy read me stories but I had a hard time going to sleep.


In the morning I ate my breakfast, brushed my teeth and got dressed as fast as I could. I couldn't wait to go to school but Mommy said it was too early so she wasted time by taking a million pictures.


Finally we got to go to school. I got to take my new lunchbox and backpack! This is my teacher, Ms. Plencner. She was Amanda's teacher too. She's really nice. Do you want to know what we did at school? Everything fun! And not just kinda fun. REALLY FUN!


My teacher gave me this smiley face. It means I followed all the rules and had a good day. Do you want to know my favorite part of Kindergarten? Lunch.


At Kindergarten we played and sang songs. I made a new friend named Katie and had so much fun! I wish I could go to Kindergarten every day!


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