Kindergarten

This was it. This was the week. Paislee was starting her first full day of Kindergarten. This was an exciting week at our house. She lost her first tooth and the tooth fairy made it's first visit to the Stanley residence. 

Rick took a vacation week to spend with Paislee before she started to school. We had pumped Kindergarten up all week!! I teach PreK so I see parents cry every year as they drop their babies off for their first year of school. As a teacher, I reassure them they will be fine and their child will have so much fun as I try to have them say a quick goodbye to prevent meltdowns. Paislee started PreK two years ago and it was at my school, not same class so I dropped her off said quick bye and that was just how I have been. I still saw her in hallways, playtime, and cafeteria.  Kindergarten is at a new school. I have never been sad to see her go to school or daycare, never cried. I have always made it fun. Well, I was on the same track until......... NOW!!

On Thursday night as she was getting ready for bed, I explained to her that she would be making new friends and having so much fun. I told her I would miss seeing her at my school. She replies, " you always have a picture of me on your phone, just look at it when you think of me."  Of course, that just melted my heart.  So, I am still doing okay. Friday morning rolls around. As I am brushing her hair and get frustrated because it will not go right, I see all the scars on her head from the many IV's and lose it. I see the top big red one she had from a baby where they said they never had a child with that high of blood count infection make it in the NICU, she has the huge scar on the side of the neck where they removed the absess, the other scar on the back of the head from the other two IVs from surgery. Hair will not grow on these, though they are covered when we brush it a certain way. They remind me of all what we have been through in the past five years. We have SURVIVED! I was wondering if we would ever make it. You could never tell from looking at her she has been through all this. So I suck it up because I can't let her see me cry, we take pictures, hugs and kisses......and. YES I cried all the way to work but they were tears of joy and happiness. Rick dropped her off and admitted he shed tears too. Other parents might shed tears of sadness because their child is growing up, but our tears were pride, joy, and happiness. She has the most amazing Kindergarten teacher and I know she is going to have the time of her life!!