Relief

Molly is having such a good first week at school and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I've been so worried about the change in routine -- mine and hers. I was afraid she wouldn't like the after school program or that she'd be bummed we weren't there to pick her up at 3:30 with the other parents.

But all of that worry was for nothing! She's fine. She's having the time of her life. She was doing the limbo in the gym after school today and didn't want to leave. She loves having so much access to the playground. And in a couple of weeks, she'll start tennis and gymnastics on Mondays and Wednesdays after school, which should keep things interesting. I wasn't going to sign her up for any extra programs, but a couple of her friends signed up, so why not?!

There was an ice cream social at the school playground this evening from 6 to 7, so I got to see Molly in her element, running around and mixing it up with her friends. The playground was so chaotic with kids from every grade crawling over every piece of equipment and Molly was right there in the middle of all of it, which shocked me. I'm so used to her hanging back and clinging to my leg whenever there are too many kids around...it warmed my heart to see her running around and having so much fun. As we were walking home, a kid stuck his head out of the window of a car and screamed, "bye Molly, see you tomorrow!" which also warmed my heart.

Some aspects of this whole Kindergarten thing are more difficult. Planning and packing lunch every morning has been kind of a pain. I feel like I'm going to have to be way more on top of our grocery shopping. And they kind of loaded us up with activities and meetings the past few weeks. Don't even get me started on the scheduled days off I've had to add to my calendar.

But the after school program covers a bunch of those days, and Jason and I are both able to work from home occasionally. I'm starting to build a network of mom friends who have offered to help out and have Molly over after school. I haven't taken anyone up on it yet, but it's nice to know I can.

It's early, but I'm feeling optimistic.