Callie Goes to Kindergarten

The real major event of the summer of 2013, however, was preparing Callie and ourselves for kindergarten and all that it entailed.  

We have been very good about making sure Callie has regular doctor and dentist visits.  But for the first time we had to have her eyes checked.  This is a big deal for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that John got his first pair of glasses in 1st grade and Sarah still has "perfect" eyesight.  So of course it was Sarah who took Callie to the optometrist.  During the visit, Callie was asked to identify a number of objects on the wall.  She started out okay, but as she started to get more and more them wrong, Sarah began to panic.  It was looking like John's genes had taken hold of Callie's eyes.  As Sarah prepared herself for the bad news, she began thinking about how good it was that glasses had become fashionable.  Then came the really good news.  Callie's eyesight was 20/20, and they were just testing to see if her eyes were better than that.  Medically, Callie was now fully cleared.

Now it was time to check out her classroom and meet her teacher at orientation.  Cassidy Elementary School was packed and the whole experience was initially a bit overwhelming.  But once she entered her classroom, Callie was pretty excited to see all of the different stations and learning areas.  

She met her teacher, sat at one of the tables, and just took a good look around the whole classroom.  You can see from the smile on her face here that she was definitely ready to go.  But that was just orientation.  What was really cool to see was how ready Callie was on the very first day of kindergarten.  She and Sarah worked hard on the sign she is holding below, and Callie was very proud to hold it for a number of pictures.

And of course, she was also prepared to break out some of her best poses for the picture.  Notice the "popped" knee that really helps make the photo work.

She was particularly excited about her backpack, which we had not let her take anywhere before this big day.  Callie also had a lunch packed in her new lunchbox and couldn't wait to eat all of the goodies that she helped prepare the night before.  We could not have asked for a better morning, that's for sure.

Then came the big moment.  Sarah walked with Callie to Mrs. Bradley's room so she could begin her very first day of kindergarten.  Callie walked right in without hesitation, listened to where she needed to put her backpack, and started coloring at her table as instructed.  No tears were shed, at least by her, and though Sarah knew this was when she was supposed to leave, it was difficult to walk out on this moment when she could see just how much Callie had matured over the summer.  What a wonderful experience for all involved.