Do I REALLY have a 1st grader?

Okay - I am starting to notice that Arlington is totally hogging this blog lately. I am going to be changing that after today. But hey - going to first grade is a big deal! She needs the spotlight every once in awhile. Being a big sister to two little monsters cute children is a hard job.

Monday was Arlington's first day of first grade. I can't believe I have a child who is in first grade. I am really starting to feel old. She is growing up so fast! This is a fun age. For the most part. Sure she has an attitude sometimes, and she is getting harder and harder to wake up:

But, she is a great kid. She is kind, thoughtful, friendly, sweet, stubborn, independent, beautiful, smart, loving, best big sister in the world. We couldn't have asked for a better first born child. I love that she is spunky and a little sprite. Do I wish sometimes she didn't talk so much??? Sure. But I also love that about her - she will talk to ANYONE. She likes EVERYONE. She is turning into a wonderful person.

Anyway - I am getting sappy.

Arlington got up bright and early on Monday. By the time she was having breakfast, Mat had left with the little ones. I am going to enjoy our mornings together - just the two of us. Having the little ones gone and just her to get ready is already proving to be about 1000 times less stressful.

I wanted to make her a special breakfast, but she has been battling a stomach bug all weekend. We did go to Friendly's (her choice) Sunday night for her back to school dinner. I had French Toast lined up for Monday morning, but between first day jitters, and probably too much Friendly's ice cream the day before she had......toast. So sad.


She didn't mind. After breakfast she got dressed. We don't dare put Arlington in her clothes before she eats, because she eats like she doesn't know where her mouth is.

Arlington picked out her first day of school outfit all by herself. As long as it wasn't totally crazy (or had Hanna Montana on it) she could make the decision. So this is what she chose.


True to Arlington style - it is something I wouldn't have picked for her. It was gray with very large flowers on it. She looked cute, of course, and it was a cute dress. But not my favorite of the dresses she tried on! Ah well. As long as she liked it. We got it at The Children's Place. That is my favorite store - after Crazy 8.


After she was dressed, we got our things together and headed outside. Here she is on the porch. Arlington is not catching the bus at home this year. Due to my work hours, a friend of ours is watching her in the morning for 15 minutes before the bus comes. Arlington is excited that she gets to ride the bus with her friend "E" each morning - since they are not in class together this year.


Here she is sporting the bookbag and lunch box she chose. Her bookbag was especially heavy this day because she had to transport her supplies. Lucky she doesn't have to walk to school like I did when I was a kid. That wouldn't be fun for her with that giant bookbag.


She had a really excellent first day. She loves her teacher and picked a seat right in the front center of the class. What a brown noser. She talked for hours about her first day. She made new friends (mostly with boys, aren't I lucky), she ate lunch with her friends "E" and "B" (both good friends of hers that aren't in her class). She loved the lunch room. That was a high light. She got all of her jitters out. She found out what days she will go to specials (library, gym, art, etc.) She got to go to recess. Twice.

We found out from the teacher that in a few weeks they will start nightly homework. About 20 minutes of homework a night Monday-Thursday. Plus reading. We will also get a chance to meet her at open house in a few weeks.

So overall, a very good first day. I will have to have an "Arlington" post - maybe later this week - so you can hear directly from her about her day, because it is pretty hilarious from a 6 year old's point of view.

Today she had another really great day. Here she is in her 2nd day of school outfit. It is also new, so I wanted to share it! It is from family (and from Crazy 8)


Isn't is super adorable? Her shirt says "Smart Girls Rule"


They started working today in class and she brought home a lot of worksheets that she did in school. Her handwriting has really improved this summer, and it looked so much better on the paper! So that is a plus. She had to do one paper where she had to connect the dots, and true to Arlington form, once she was done, she colored in the picture and then wrote a story about it on the paper. That girl loves to write stories. She wrote me one the other day called "The dinosaur who fell in love" What a weirdo.

So far, so good. I hope her love of school continues! The little ones are still enjoying school. Although this morning Finley announced she didn't want to go to "big girl school". She wanted to go to "baby school". Mat was taking them so he said, "fine baby school - get in the car".

On a side note - my first day of school went fine yesterday. It was great to see the kids after all summer. I saw 30 kids my first day. Sigh. The teachers are going to need to be retrained! Just kidding. But I got a lot of hugs and a lot of work done. I am glad to be back.

Side, side note - we are thinking about doing our "own" genetic testing on Finley. We got word that the genetic testing that was being done through the eye doctor's office would take 7-9 months - longer than the original 6 month estimate. We just need to get Finley's blood drawn. So we will see if we can work some magic. And I tried called the Perkin's School of the Blind like Dr. Miracle recommended, but they told me that the Dr. superbusy was on "vacation" all of September, and NOW call back the second week of October to try and make an appointment. Fun.

I will see you all on Saturday! I may sneek in a post from Arlington, but I will let you know.