On Haddie’s last day of her public school last spring, I asked if she was sad to be leaving all her friends. “Yes, but I’ll miss my teacher and Gracie (the class pet hamster) the most.”
She’s not really the sentimental type.
So, I was a bit relieved when she was showing some normal nervousness over starting her new charter school on Monday. We spent some time fixing up the school grounds last week and she got to know her teacher (LOVE HER) but we missed the back-to-school picnic because she was sick.
She was a ball of anxiety when I woke her up the first day of school and getting her out of bed was not pretty.
Fortunately, she cleans up rather well.
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| In her back-to-school outfit from Grandma B. |
As we were leaving the house, I told her to go wash her face because she had dry-skin crusties. She washed and lotioned her face and that is when the freak-out happened, “I LOOK LIKE A DOUGHNUT!”
“What are you talking about?”
“My face. It’s tooooo shiny!”
Now, I don’t eat too many shiny doughnuts and I likely would have blown her off any other day but because it was the first day of school and she’s my kid (prone to irrational freak-outs when stressed), I powdered her face to calm her down.
Upon arriving at her new campus, it was bustling with activity and she anxiously looked around for a friendly face.
She found it when she went to stand in line with her class. She was immediately encircled by three girls who raved about her hair.
I gave them several minutes to connect before walking over to give her the school supplies.
“Mom!” Hadley excitedly said as she pointed. “Morgan was in my first grade class!” Relief.
And so I took some pictures from a distance not wanting her to embarrass her.
I’ll just save that for Day 2 and beyond.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 