On this, the first day of Kindergarten

Today was Daisy's first day of kindergarten. I've waited for this day for a long time! It's not that I don't enjoy having Daisy at home; she's just the type of child that thrives when she's away from me. She's not a mama's girl at all! She loves independence and needs to be set free.

Daisy has a September birthday, so she barely missed the deadline to start last year. Waiting that extra year to go to school was brutal, although she loved being the oldest child in her preschool.

I really didn't have any qualms about sending Daisy to the school this morning. I knew she'd be fine. Our school does a "clap-in" for the kindergartners. The older students line the hallways and clap and cheer while the kindergartners enter the school. This would have absolutely broken Nicky on his first day of school (he went to a different school for kindergarten and didn't experience this), but Daisy had no problem. As soon as she walked in the school, she acted like she couldn't see all the students cheering (play it cool, Dais, play it cool!), but she started strutting.

There were a few things that were different in our house while Daisy was gone today:

1. I could listen to music.

I can't listen to music when Daisy is home because she wants to control the radio. If I want to listen to a song, and she didn't have the honor of choosing the song, she will scream and yell and call us stupid to the point where we just turn the music off because we can't enjoy it over the sound of her. She does the same thing with movies, TV shows, and audio books. This battle isn't worth fighting. I've given it an honest shot.

2. Zoe's tantrums were decreased by half.

Without Daisy to fight with, Zoe chilled out a lot. Our day wasn't tantrum-free, by any means, but Zoe was able to have some time to herself. We often joke that Zoe was meant to be an only child because she is a completely different person without her siblings. In truth, she's probably only that way when she's alone because she has siblings.

Zoe spent the day playing quietly with toys, doing puzzles, roaming around the back yard, and wiping off the kitchen chairs (Zoe is a good helper when she wants to be).

3. I only had to load two kids in the car.

When we left the house mid-morning, and I only had half my kids, it was sure a weird feeling. I kept looking around to make sure I wasn't missing anyone. Even though Daisy can get in the car and buckle herself in (which should be very little work for me), she is the child we are always waiting on. She just can't get out the door. She's always looking for something or camped out on the toilet. Then when she gets into the car, she realizes she forgot "something important," and she will leave the car while I'm buckling the babies in and run into the house.

When I picked up Daisy from school and asked about her day, she said, "Kindergarten is too long." Poor girl. Three whole hours! Then she said she was mad because she didn't get any homework. She told me that recess is okay, but the playground is too small and all it has are dumb slides (I agree - our school is the coolest school in the state with the lamest playground). Then she told me she's never going back.

Behind all that sass, though, I know she is going to do great in kindergarten.