Autumn's First Day of School . . . Sept 2009

In Canada, junior kindergarten starts when you are four. So, little Autumn started public school a whole year earlier than I was prepared for . . . bus and all. As soon as we moved to Toronto, she began a preschool program in the fall. With a year of preschool under her belt, she was so excited to start elementary school. Her favorite little friend from preschool, Alita, rides the bus with her to and from the morning session even though they are in different classes. Ms. Shin is her teacher - and Autumn loves her and so do we. She's the youngest of the kindergarten teachers - and definitely has the most positive, laid-back attitude of the bunch. So, we have been very lucky.

Kindergarten students have a staggered start and they didn't assign Autumn her date until the day before. So, we counted down the days to her first day of school . . . and then added a day . . . and another . . . and then another day. She finally started school on a Friday.

She allowed me to actually fix her hair - just a little (since she STILL says Becky is the only one who can fix her hair . . . although we made the link by wearing a bow of Bree's that we somehow ended up with in our suitcase after a visit to Utah). And, I can say that her first day of school has been the ONLY day I have been allowed to fix her hair since. My little girl is a fan of wearing her hair down and straight.

We took her picture and then the whole family took her to school for her big day. And, we were all together when we picked her up, too . . . ready to celebrate with the first ever "First Day of School" cake . . . an official new Peterson tradition. Jeff and I put together a little bag of goodies for her each of her first few days - Smarties (the Canadian kind), pencils, the whole works. And, she used the backpack that Grandma Ranson gave her last Christmas.

The buses began running the next week. And, somehow, putting our little baby girl on a big yellow bus all alone was far harder than I was expecting.

She was so shy and sweet standing in line waiting. And, she looked too small to be getting on the bus. Her little brother was pedaling around on his trike - taking it all in.

Autumn has strong opinions about picking out her own clothes - and wanted a dress and her fancy shoes. And, I'm a big supporter of letting her wear what she wants. This is a battle that I won't fight. She insisted on wearing those fancy shoes daily until her teacher encouraged her to try tennis shoes on gym days.

I, unfortunately, was the only Mom crying at the bus stop. Right before this picture, she flashed the sign for "I Love you" - something we always do whenever we leave each other. And, well . . . it's something I hope I never forget. Kids grow up far too fast.

It's funny that you can see me in the reflection . . . trying to be a big girl for my little girl.

And, now, she's already starting to read and has been bumped up to Senior Kindergarten for all of her activities. Our spit-fire, fearless little girl . . . we couldn't be more proud.