Wednesday, September 02, 2009

First Day!

Because I had fallen asleep earlier last night -in my good old recliner, of course -I ended up wide awake at12:30 a.m. and stayed up until about 5:45 a.m. working on the tablecloth I am currently embroidering.

However, before I went to lay down and go back to sleep, I made a phone call to Mandy to tell her she best get up and wake Kate up because I hadn't heard her alarm clock go off as yet then. Darned good thing I did that too or Kate would have missed the first day of school for her Senior Year. (We have two phones in the house and the charger for Mandy's phone is in their bedroom upstairs. I decided to use the downstairs phone to call Mandy on the upstairs phone instead of just yelling up the stairway and running the risk then of waking Kurtis up a bit earlier than either Mandy or I really wanted him to be up and roaming around!)

It was a pleasant event this morning as Maya got her breakfast -she intially told Mandy she wanted "Three eggs!" but I believe she settled for only two -and then, she got dressed in the outfit she had chosen last week for her "what to wear on my first day of kindergarten" adventure.

And, thankfully -no meltdowns occurred today as she ate, dressed and then waited for the bus to arrive.

Shortly before the bus arrived, a jeep pulled in our drive and out popped Mandy's friends - "Jen-Jen and Nick-Nick" -who are like Maya's surrogate parents as she frequently goes to visit them and their children and stays for often at least one, sometimes two nights at their place.

They came prepared too with Jen holding her little digital camera and Nick had the video camera ready to train on Maya -and Mandy, Jen and me -as Maya boarded the mini-bus that arrived to pick her up.

Because one of the little boys from Maya's preschool class -Jacob -will also be riding this bus to school with Maya, Mandy got Maya all settled and strapped in a seat that accomodates two children. That way, she and Jacob could be able to sit together and have the comfort of a friend as they rode to school today.

Brace yourselves now -cause I took 13 photos and am about to post all of 'em here for your viewing pleasure. Just couldn't not show them all off to everyone, ya know!

The big surprise for Mandy and for me today was that neither of us cried as we loaded, hugged and kissed Maya and then sent her on her way for her first day of kindergarten. Maya was so excited, so happy over this, and her attitude totally rubbed off on us as we waved her off this morning.













If you look really close on that last picture, you can see Mandy's reflection in the school bus door as she waved good bye to her baby girl and sent her off on what is REALLy the first day of the rest of her life.

Starting Kindergarten!

And to think that a mere two years ago, we were worried about how she would do in the preschool program and if/when she would be able to go to kindergarten then too.

But boy, those fears all evaporated as we watched her learning more and more every day, adjusting to being with other children who, like her and her little brother, are also autistic, and seeing her develop lots of great social skills along with the academics she was picking up from the preschool program too.

I know that for Maya she may possibly always have some issues both in school and in socializing as well due to the autism but I think I can say with certainty now that she's gonna be just fine and dandy!

Sure is quiet here now though but I think I can adjust to that little bit of peace too.

Maybe I'll even go take a bit of a nap now since I only got about two hours worth of sleep this morning before I had to get up and watch Maya get on her way to school today.

Hope everyone else putting a child off to school today -or this week -for the first time, has a really wonderful and positive experience with and for their little one as we had here today.

And by the way -did I mention this -no tears were shed today! Totally a very happy moment for Maya and Mommy and Grammie today!

12 comments:

Linda said...

I've never quite understood the whole "tearful parting" on the first day of school myself but that's probably because I was a single parent when my son started kindergarten and I was dancing a jig over the fact that I was going to be saving a ton of money on childcare!

Looks to me like Maya was more than ready to go and take on this new adventure - so glad you have such nice pictures to remember the moment, too. Someday she'll be able to look back on those herself and hardly believe that she was ever that young!

Now go get some sleep being that yo were up all night!

Sandee said...

I'm so glad it turned out to be a no tear day. I so remember the drama. I'm glad you didn't have any.

Have a terrific day. Big hug. :)

Suldog said...

Heck of a nice series of photos, will be treasured more as the years pass, no doubt. She's damn cute.

terri said...

What great pictures and what a great way to start the school year! My "baby" will be a junior this year and her first day is next Tuesday. Hopefully I'll still be allowed to get a first-day-of-school picture of her before she goes.

Dr.John said...

Loved the pictures.
Glad everything went so well.

Jocelyn said...

Oh, congratulations to all of you. You've just taken me back to my Girl's first day of kindergarten a few years ago, when I did cry a little bit, but only because she was so big and brave and ready...and I wasn't.

Stine said...

Well done Maya! And the rest of you for not crying. I hope she had a wonderful day!

Anonymous said...

Jeni, this is such a positive post and wonderful news that Maya has started kindergarten. She looks beautiful in the photos and thank you for sharing them with us.

We worry so much for our autistic children, sometimes too much, forgetting that a part of them is as resilient as any other child of the same age.

My love to you, CJ xx

CiCi said...

It's that time of year again and the school buses are taking over the roads around here and the little munchkins are going to be hard at work learning and socializing. My kids always liked school and I was most of the time working.

Woman in a Window said...

Maya looked beautiful and so together. My daughter's first day came flooding back to me as I read this and neither she nor I did half as well. Here's to many more successes!

(And thank you for sharing with me so openly on my post. Your honesty has buoyed me. I appreciate it immensely.)
xo
erin

Alex the Girl said...

First, I have to say, Maya looks wonderfully confident and definately ready to start her education. I wish her the best of luck. My littlest girl started Pre-K this year.

Secondly, I want to thank you. The comments you leave behind when visiting my post give me courage and lifts me up more often than not. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Maya is precious Jeni! I loved this post.. It was so happy and upbeat and positive.. I really, really needed this!

PS - I was one of the "boo hoo" Mom's when all of mine went off to kindergarten, complete with video and a million pictures! =)