Madeline's first day of school...

Madeline started Kindergarten a few weeks ago. In the past, she has tended to have a difficult time adjusting to new situations. So I was concerned that with all of the excitement of summer - dad's surgery, having him live with us for 3 weeks, moving to the new house and then starting school 2 weeks later - that we were setting her up for an especially hard beginning of school. I am pleased to say that I was SO wrong. She's doing beautifully. Here are some pictures from her first day in school:

She was very proud of her Hannah Montana lunch box, so HM joined her in all of the pictures.

The last picture is one of Madeline sitting in class on the first day. She walked right in, put her backpack in her locker and sat at the table with her name tag. She immediately got to work coloring the picture that was laid out for her. And there was not a tear shed when we said good bye. Hannah, on the other hand, cried "I want my Sissy" for about 10 mins every day for the first 1-2 weeks when we would drop Madeline off. She didn't know how to function without Madeline being part of her day. I think she's gotten used to it now, she's enjoying some special time with mommy. But she is always quick to jump out of bed at naptime to get her sister from school.

I feel fortunate that positive character traits are an important part of Madeline's school curriculum. Her teacher, Mrs Metzler, has a great positive behavior plan for all of the children and Madeline has been rewarded once as the "kid with character" for helping some other kids in her class by reading color words to them. Madeline is a great kid and she gets motivated by positive recognition so she works hard to be sure that she's displaying great character. Now we just need to implement this plan at home!! Drama rules in our house between Madeline and Hannah these days. I've got some great stories, but we'll save those for another day...