Aubrey Stolle, First Grader

I took Aubrey to the first day of first grade today! I thought I would feel old taking Aubrey to kindergarten. But then I took her to first grade. She's still my little girl, only six, you know, but she's getting older, which is the scary thing.

I woke her up with the Good Morning song we sing at our house, at the bright and early hour of 7:00 a.m. This is a girl who, after starting kindergarten last year, likes her sleep. So, I ended up singing the Good Morning song a couple of times as she rolled from side to side, squinting her eyes closed, trying to stay asleep. Finally, when I changed the words to the Goodnight song, that gave her a case of the giggles and she was up for the day. She's been wanting to wear her first day of school outfit since we got it, (a bright pink polo shirt with a denim skirt she picked out herself...suspiciously resembling what she wore last year on the first day) so she was more than happy to put it on. She had already decided on her hair for the day, so that was a bonus (as last year, she usually went with nothing in her hair because she couldn't decide). Her decision for lunch was also decided last night, so that was slick as well. Grammie and her aunt Janae who came for a week visit brought over her breakfast, a First Day of School Donut, pink frosting with sprinkles of course. Then we walked to school. We made the decision to walk to school this year for many reasons, but I am excited that we can spend some extra time togheter on the walk to and from school. I hope it works out.

Here she is, all ready to go! I really like this picture because truly, she was excited and you can see it all over her face.



Here's the annual I'm-about-to-drop-my-brother picture.





We happened to run into good friend Elle on the way to school and so the girls ended up walking the rest of the way together, holding hands. I would like to mention that, yes, she was holding my hand until Elle came along and Aubrey saw a better option. Oh well, that's little girls for you. She had said once or twice, "I'm so nervous!!!" in that excited, anticipatory voice, so I was glad that she had someone to walk with to ease those first day of school jitters a little bit.



She entered the school like a pro (after hugging Elle goodbye). As we walked down the familiar halls, she saw her old P.E. teacher, and called out, "Hi, Coach!" and then we saw Mrs. T-Bone, the music teacher. As we turned the corner to head to the first grade hallway, her nervousness turned to pure excitement that couldn't be contained. "I am so ready for this!!!" she exclaimed. And she was. We walked right up to her classroom, I hugged her and promised I would meet her outside after school and she said, "Okay! Bye mom!" And that was that, as Mrs. Territo showed her where to put her backpack, and she chose her desk (an upgrade from last year's assigned tables). As I walked away from the school, I marvelled at how far she's come since last year. And I hope she has a great year this year too.