Our little darling girl started kindergarten on August 6, 2008. The doctor wanted to induce me the night of the 5th, but there was NO WAY that I was going to miss my Bug's first day of school (no matter how swollen my feet were or how high my blood pressure was). This was the day I had looked forward to for so long. So, on the first day of school, Matt and I took Kennedy to school. Of course, I had to be in my classroom to greet my students and their parents, so I hugged Bug, and Matt took her to class. She was just across the hall from me, and I loved seeing her at lunch and PE. Here's how Kennedy looked on her first day of kindergarten.
Kennedy eventually learned that she couldn't make everyone like her, and she gave up trying, becoming content with her circle of friends. She had fun at her classroom parties. Here she is trying to pin the carrot on Frosty. Field trips and birthday parties were a blast! She loved Spring Fling. Most of all, Kennedy loved seeing Mommy everyday at lunch (and often swiping my food right off of my plate). Do you think she'll still do that in middle school? ha!
Case was born two days later, and I was off work until November 3rd. Matt took Kennedy to school the first week after Case's birth, and when I had to do it the next week, I nearly broke down. I always kept my girl home with me when I was off work, but now I couldn't. I watched her walk to the school doors, with her bag on her shoulder, and I wondered how Kennedy ever became five. Wasn't she just born a few days ago? I felt as though I was deserting a baby. Things got better, and it wasn't so hard to leave her anymore. Then there were the days that she came home upset because she had been kicked out of another club. I teach first grade, and I have never had clubs in my classroom, but Kennedy had some sweet little girls in her class who just loved having clubs. There is nothing more upsetting to a mother than when her child is broken-hearted. I cried with her and for her. Kennedy is very sensitive, often crying when a sad song comes on. Making and keeping friends was a challenge this year. Kennedy wants to be friends with everyone, and she wants to please everyone, so if she feels banished, she becomes broken. I think part of the reason she was so especially sensitive this year was because of Case's birth. Kennedy had to learn to share Mommy with a new sibling, and Case is a handful, so he wanted and needed a lot of Mommy's attention!
Kennedy REALLY matured this year. She was already mature, but she seems so much more so now. She loves God more than anything (even Mommy), and we often talk about how to please Him. A few months ago one of the aides who works in Kennedy's classroom began to tell me how helpful and patient Kennedy is with the special needs children in her classroom, and I was so proud to have a daughter who is doing the Lord's work at such a young age. Kennedy is blessed to be intelligent and beautiful, but it is her acceptance of others that makes her light shine! I have always prayed for and tried to instill in her an acceptance and tolerance of others. It seems as though God has worked through these actions to give Kennedy such a sweet presence. She is such a help to us (though she didn't like wiping down the chairs the other day). I never want to take her for granted, but I am sure that I do all too often. I look at her eyes, and I think about how I was the first person she ever laid eyes on, and I think about how she is beginning to see the world now for what it is. I wonder what she will do with her life, but as I told her the other day, "We have plenty of time to worry about those details; let's just enjoy today." If I let myself, I could cry nonstop about how Kennedy is growing up, and about how she will one day part from our home, leaving a hole the size of a crater, but I just can not allow myself to do that. If I do, I am missing out on precious moments that God means for us to enjoy. Everyday with Matt, Kennedy, and Case is a gift, and I enjoy opening that gift everyday!
Here Kennedy is on her last day of kindergarten. I know wonderful things await her in first grade. She can't wait to see who her teacher is! She had a fabulous kindergarten teacher!
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