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!
