With school starting in just over a week (*breathe in, breathe out, don’t panic, she’ll be fine*), I thought that maybe we should start practicing for what mornings will be like at that time. Other than the occasional early morning doctor’s appointment, we’ve never had to get up and GO so mornings are usually pretty laid back. We get up, we stay in our pajamas, we eat a leisurely breakfast, we don’t rush because there’s no reason to rush. That all changes next week and I didn’t want it to be a big shock to Hayley. I also didn’t want to spend her first day of school yelling at her to hurry up, hurry up, let’s GO now.

I didn’t bother with getting her up at 6:30 (because I was still sleeping and the thought of purposely getting up at the crack of dawn when we don’t actually need to made me want to cry a little), but we did do the basic routine. I sent Hayley back to bed and told her we would pretend it was school. I “woke” her up and told her to come on out to the kitchen. I offered her three choices of breakfast (two different cereals and a PB&J sandwich) and when she chose one of the cereals, I set her bowl out and told her to eat her breakfast while I got dressed.

When she was done, I sent her to her room where I had laid out some clothes for her (not her actual school clothes, mind you) and she got dressed. I brushed her hair, which is still a nightmare and I look forward to getting it CUT, we brushed her teeth, and then she was finished! I explained to her that during school weeks I would prepare her lunch the night before and put it all in the fridge, and then transfer it to a lunch box in the morning for her so that she would just need to put on her shoes, grab her lunch box and her bag, and go. I also pointed out to her that she had gotten through the routine in about half an hour and so if we were up an hour before bus time, she’d have plenty of time to relax. Of course, I realize that when she’s woken up at 6:30 we’ll likely have a much slower start, hence the extra time!

Later today we’re going to look for some pictures to represent her morning routine and we’ll glue them to a sheet of construction paper and hang it on the fridge (or maybe her door; Breanna’s fond of removing things from the fridge door) so that she has a visual reminder of everything she has to do each day.

It’s good for me to practice too. I’m not used to so much action in the morning either. I’ll have to get used to not checking my email until AFTER the bus has picked her up.

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In about an hour we’re going to head out to find her some pants and more shirts for school. I can’t believe she has ten days left before the big day. *Sniff* I’m both excited for her and sad at the same time. I think that may be a common theme around here for awhile. Eventually it will just become about as normal as anything else around here but for now it’s still such a big deal and I expect to write about it for awhile.

I think that Sheryl over at Paper Napkin came up with the best description of what this feels like to me. In this entry she wrote:

I, on the other hand, hide in the bathroom and breathe into a paper bag as often as I can, without arousing suspicion. You’d think they were being deployed to Iraq on Tuesday.

That’s pretty damn accurate. It’s like I logically know that it’s Just School. Hell, even more than that it’s Just Kindergarten, it’s not as though she’s packing up and heading off to boarding school or moving three provinces over to attend university. She’s getting on a yellow school bus and going to elementary school in the same city and at the end of the day she’ll come home and tell me all about her day and the friends she’s made, and she’ll bring me pictures made out of macaroni and glue. It’s not the end of the world.

But man, after spending every day with her for almost five years (oh, and there’s another thing, she turns five in exactly one month), it’s going to be a mighty big deal next Thursday.

Okay, back to breathing and perhaps writing a list of the stuff we need to buy when we head out.