After a really wet but more or less decent summer, all of a sudden I found myself sharpening 24 pencils, packing up a lunch in a new little pink lunch bag, and laying out a navy blue skirt with white socks and a white t-shirt. I found myself drying Hayley’s hair more carefully so it wouldn’t be as rumpled in the morning as it was able to be all summer. I found myself tucking a nervous but excited little girl into bed, and later found myself amazed that she was asleep before 9:30 when I expected her to keep herself awake much later than that.

I answered questions today that I had already answered, just for the sake of reassurance – things like the difference between grade one tomorrow and Kindergarten last year, which of the teachers she might get, whether or not there will be a split grade one/two class and whether or not she’ll be in it, whether her closest friends will be in her class (man, I hope her best friend is in her class, *fingers crossed*), and how she’ll deal with formally learning French.

I also reassured her that yes, her friends will still recognize her even with her much shorter hair. I pointed out that her hair had been cut but her face still looked the same. I knew she was okay when she made a wildly weird face and said, “no, look how different my face is!” with her tongue hanging out and her eyes bulging. Clown.

I just hope it all holds. I know that as excited as she is, she’s a bundle of nerves too. She had a stomach ache earlier today and I know it’s the nervous feelings hitting her. Hopefully she’ll be okay when she gets to school and I get her to class.

I had been informed by another mother that we would get the information regarding the teacher and classroom sometime in the week before school starts, but I didn’t get anything. I don’t know if she was wrong or if it was just late (watch, I’ll get it in the mail tomorrow), but nothing ever showed up and no one was in the office the times that I called. It’s not a big deal, I’ll just take her into the office tomorrow to find out where she’s supposed to be and help her find the right room.

Last year I couldn’t believe I was shipping my baby off to Kindergarten, that she was already at that point. She wasn’t even five years old for the first three weeks of school and it all seemed like time had blasted past. Apparently this summer blasted past too, because I can barely believe that she’s headed for grade one tomorrow.

I hope she sleeps well for the whole night. Considering how quickly the summer went, the night should be the blink of an eye.