First Grade!

Julia woke up full of excitement for her first day of first grade today!  While Ethan and I are not ready to say good-bye to a summer vacation that went by way too quickly, Julia has been counting down the days until she returns to school, anxious to see her friends again and navigate her way as a big first-grader.

She had her fashionista outfit all picked out and was dressed and ready for school with nary a prompt from her mother:

As soon as we got to school, Julia joined the first-graders congregating in the performance center, sitting in line as they awaited their teachers.  Happy as a clam to rejoin some of her kindergarten friends, she said good-bye to us easily and confidently, ready to start her day.

Madeleine was definitely in Julia withdrawal throughout the day, however.  We headed off to the Y so I could do a quick run, and when I picked Madeleine up from the childcare room at 10:40, she immediately asked me, "Is it time to go get Julia now?"

In the absence of her sister's company, Madeleine was forced to come up with pretend play ideas all by herself today.  And that is how she wound up in dress-up clothes, dancing around on my yoga mat, waving the play tape-measurer from her toy tool kit around in the air like a rhythmic gymnast's ribbon.

Doesn't she look like a TOTAL gymnastics star??:

She is ROCKING that outfit, don't you think?

At one point, I said, "Okay, let me see your FIERCE model pose now!"  Madeleine immediately curved her hands like claws and made animal noises at me.  I guess that's the only kind of "fierce" she knows.

Fierce Madeleine

At any rate, Madeleine had no problem letting go of her game once it was, at long last, time to pick up Julia.  She literally bolted up from the floor when I announced it was time to go, and picked up right where we left off last spring, running along ahead of me the whole way to school:

I waited eagerly for Julia to be dismissed so I could find out if she'd had a good first day, and once the first grade was released, I was greeted by this very happy camper:

The first day of first grade was a success!  Julia had a great time at school, and can't wait to go back for pizza day tomorrow.

Madeleine, too, was thrilled to be back at Julia's school playground at pickup.  When it was time for us to head home, after the girls got to play for a half hour on the playground, Madeleine burst into bitter tears of disappointment.

MADELEINE: But Mamaaaaa!  I'm not READY to go home yet, because I was just having SO, SO, SO much FUN playing at Julia's schoooooooool!

It's going to be tough waiting a whole week until her own preschool starts; I expect today's tears are not the only ones we'll be experiencing as Julia attends school and Madeleine is stuck at home for the next few days.

At least she has her yoga mat and snazzy gymnastics outfit here to keep her entertained!