Firsts

It's been a big week of firsts around here. First day of work for Cliff. Nathan's first time beating Mom at Memory. Me making my first friend here. But the biggest firsts of the week go to Laura, hands down. Last Wednesday was Laura's first day of first grade. Not only that....but it was her first day in a new school. Two days before the big day, we went to Open House so we could meet her teacher and get to see her classroom. When the big morning arrived, she was all ready to go. School dress code-appropriate clothes on, pencils sharpened, book bag packed with supplies, lunch box packed with lunch.....and off we went. Before leaving, we took some pictures to commemorate the day.


When we got to school, we had to wait a bit in the drop-off lane. I was worried she'd be nervous with the new surroundings and the overwhelming amount of cars dropping kids off. But when it was our turn to pull up by the door, she hopped out of the car, walked in and never looked back. She is so brave! She's had a good first week, but it's been tiring on us all. In Nebraska, we woke her up at 7:30, dropped her off at 8:45, and school started at 9:00. Here, we get up at 6am, leave the house at 7am, and school officially starts at 7:45. An early morning for anyone, but definitely new territory for her little body. The first 3 days of school, Laura zonked out in the car about 2 miles into the 10-mile drive home in the afternoon. We are adjusting, though.

Another first came just this week, on Monday: Laura's first homework! I guess it's safe to say she's now a "big kid", coming home at night with spelling homework, a math worksheet, some phonics work and reading to practice. She is handling the new responsibility well so far. We are also pleased to see that the review work they've been doing at school pretty closely matches where she was at the end of kindergarten in Lincoln. We're glad to see that the curriculum between the two states is pretty similar.

Another HUGE first for Laura came last Thursday when she attended her first-ever ballet class. After visiting all of the dance and gymnastics studios in town, we were somewhat surprised that Laura picked ballet as her first choice given her obsession with gymnastics since she began taking it at the Y 2 years ago. Alas, we can thank her last school for this. If you remember, last December, Laura's school was the lucky school in Lincoln Public to be the home of the Lincoln Midwest Ballet Company's Backstage at the Ballet in-residency program. All that behind the scenes look into The Nutcracker certainly gave her a bug for ballet. After her first day of school, we took her shopping for her gear. She couldn't wait to get home and try it on:

We are pleased to report that after her first class, she is still happy with her choice. She asked several times over the weekend to put on her leotard and slippers to practice. Here she is right after we got home from her first class; she couldn't wait to model her plié!

And so goes our life and times here as we settle in to our new routines. There will be more to come about what the rest of us are doing, but for now, you can enjoy the following......Can you tell this little boy had just spent a weekend watching Daddy hang wall hangings? :)

Gina