We have a preschooler!

There are many things in life you can ease into - a bath for instance, or the lake, or even a new schedule or job.  But then there are those things that cannot be eased into.  They just are or they aren't.  School is one of those.  

Yesterday my oldest was NOT in school.  Today, she is a preschooler, and all it took was one day to feel a difference.  

Lily could not have been more ready for school.  She LOVES to learn, loves to be with friends, loves to have something that is hers and only hers.  It is time for her to be in school and she was nearly bursting at the seams with excitement!

Lily, excited beyond measure.  Spencer, woken from a deep sleep
just a minute before and wondering what is going on.
Connor, excited because sissy is excited, but not 100% sure why.

On the drive to school, Lily stated from her carseat, "I'm the oldest in the family, so I'm going to preschool."  Chase and I laughed.

We all walked sister bear into her classroom, got her backpack put in her locker, said hello to her teacher, and saw that she was playing with friends old and new before we headed out the door.  As we left the building, Connor said the thing that brought tears to my eyes.  He looked at me with eyes the size of saucers and said wistfully and questioningly, "But sissy is my best friend."

It was strange to him that we left her.  And it felt that way to us too as we 4 left the school and 1 stayed behind with her class.

When we got home, Chase headed to work and the boys and I tried to figure out how to pass the morning without sister instructing everyone as to what we should do.  Even without her, somehow, Spencer ate breakfast, a sink full of dishes were washed, Spencer napped, and Connor and I played.  I can tell it will take a little getting used to - this business of not having our sister here with us.  (I act like she'll never be around.  Preschool is only 2 mornings a week!)

By 10 Connor was asking, "Can we go get sissy?"  "Not yet, brother bear.  We'll go in about an hour.  Do you want to build a puzzle?"

When 10:45 finally rolled around and I announced that it was time to get ready to go get Lily, Connor had his flip flops on in a flash and was trying to open the door by himself before I even had Spencer in his car seat.

On the way to the car, Connor stated, "We're going to get sister, because she's my best friend."

When we picked her up, Lily seemed pleased and tired and somehow older.  As if she'd aged a good deal in those 3 hours we spent apart.  She was independent now.  She could do this on her own.  She was capable.

And between 11 and nap time, I noticed a certain superiority she feels she has now.  We'll have to work on that.

She told me how much she enjoyed her first day and all the fun things she did - a tour of campus, some papers, "there were toys, but no math today."

School is so good for her and for us.  But this parenting thing is hard.  It seems a lifetime ago that I lived in DC and found out I was pregnant with her.  So very much has happened since then.  But then, how can she already be nearly 5 and starting school?

One of my favorite books that I read to the kids is When the World was Waiting for You.  It ends with the lines, "You were there, so sweet, so small, the dearest baby of them all.  And now the world still waits for you to grow and learn and be and do."

World, you need not wait any longer.  She is here to grow and learn and be and do.