First Day of Kindergarten

To make a long story short, Jason arrived with the truck late Friday, the rest of us made it on Saturday, we went to church on Sunday, and Brooklyn started school on Monday.

My baby started kindergarten!

In some ways, this significant milestone got kind of overlooked in the flurry of activity. I feel a bit guilty for not feeling more about it. I expected to feel more anxious, more nostalgic, more wistful, more anything, but in reality I simply felt happy for Brooklyn (and anxious to get back home and continue unpacking.)

I'm not quite sure why I've been so comfortable with the transition. In large part, it's easy because Brooklyn's already "done" school in France. Watching her leave as a three year-old has made sending her off as a five year-old much less traumatic.

At the same time, any sense of nostalgia has been washed away by our excitement about Brooklyn's completely bilingual elementary school, Dixie Sun. As a kindergartner, she trades off days between Spanish and English, with 50% of her instruction time is in each language. Her Spanish teacher, Ms. Barranco, greeted her at the door on her first day with "Buenos días, cómo estas?" That afternoon, Brooklyn and Talia spent the better part of an hour chanting, "buenos días, buenos días, buenos días." While their chant eventually became annoying (and rather embarrassing since we were at a Playplace with a latino family), it was also exciting to see how eagerly she's embracing Spanish. Admittedly, Jason and I are living our linguistic fantasies through Brooklyn as well, but more on that later.

Ultimately, sending Brooklyn off to school has been easy because we know she's prepared and will thrive on the challenge. She is incredibly eager to learn, so school feels like the perfect environment for her inquisitive mind. As for the rest of us, we hope to pick up a little bit on the journey as well.

On Brooklyn's first day of school, she purchased hot lunch since I hadn't even gotten around to buying a lunch box. The only reason she owned a backpack was thanks to grandma. I must confess I felt pangs of guilt when I contrasted my lackadaisical attitude with the absolutely adorable first day lunch prepared by my friend: check it out here. Fortunately, despite having somewhat of a slacker Mom, Brooklyn's loving school all the same.