Ella G., first grader

Today I took Ella to school for the first day of first grade. Such a difference from the first day of kindergarten last year - I didn't shed a single tear. I didn't even feel sad. We hadn't gotten word on which teacher she was going to have, so I went to school prepared to become one of "those" mothers if she wasn't with the teacher we had requested. When I saw the student list and found out that she is with our preferred teacher, all the fight went out of me and I just felt so relieved. Yay. I didn't need to have a hissy fit all over the office on the first day of school.

Once we got to her classroom, Ella and I stowed away all of her supplies and found her seat. She is sitting across from a classmate from last year and behind our buddy Luke. Plus her favorite girls from kindergarten are in her class, too. Life is good.

Last night Ella was upset about the unfairness of not getting buried in the sand at the beach while we were there, so she had retreated under my bed - her favorite hiding place. I sent Lily in to the living room for story time with daddy and stretched out on the floor next to my bed to talk Ella out. One of the things we talked about was how she has changed since her first day of kindergarten. Here's our list:

She's lost two baby teeth and has one grown-up tooth

She can read
She can write in cursive (sort of)

She can add AND subtract

She can tell time - but only when the big hand is on the 12

She can ride her two-wheeler without training wheels

Her legs are longer

She can roller skate

She can climb higher in the magnolia tree

She has a baby brother (I had to remind her that when she started kindergarten, Campbell hadn't been born yet)

Here's a picture from the first day of kindergarten, just so you can see how much she's changed.

And in the interest of fairness, here's a picture of Lily on her first day of preschool. (I have GOT to stop letting them watch America's Next Top Model!) She's at the same wonderful little preschool, but now she's in the "four-year-old" classroom. She was so excited she could hardly bear it. She picked out her new dress all by herself and was desperate to wear it. I had to hide it so that she couldn't smuggle it into a suitcase for our trip to the beach. Ella opted to wear a dress she's had for a while, but she did pick out a "second day" outfit for tomorrow.