"Spanish Emergency" school

Today was Lizzie's first day of kindergarten. Despite our best efforts she went to bed a couple hours late last night and we had to wake her up for school (I felt a little guilty when I saw her yawning as we pulled into the school parking lot). Also despite our efforts we had clothing issues this morning. We tried on and laid out an outfit last night and she dutifully put it on this morning. Then, shortly before it was time to go she decided she wanted to wear something different. She also had to try on a couple pairs of socks before she found a set that was satisfactory. So typical Liz.

Elizabeth is in a partial Spanish immersion program that she refers to as "Spanish Emergency" despite my attempts to correct her. I wanted to do a traditional first day picture, but she was not cooperative. She ran to the van and once in, hid her face (she seemed to find this very amusing). So, this is what I ended up with: We left Liz at the "kiss and ride" and felt a little sad that we couldn't walk her all the way into her class. I felt sadder still when I found out that other parents were actually allowed to do just that. Argh! Oh well. I thought maybe Lizzie would cry when we left her, or I would or maybe Andrew, but there were no tears. Still, Drew and I certainly felt nervous. I felt like I was handing over a lot of control to the school. Now there is so much that we will not be able to protect or shelter her from.
I intended to pick Liz up right when school ended, but the traffic going into that place was crazy! I waited in line for almost twenty minutes before I could get her and I'm pretty sure that she was the last kindergartner to be picked up (which was the last thing I wanted to have happen). She didn't seem to mind though. Once in the car Lizzie happily told me about the wonders of the cafeteria, where she sits in her English and Spanish classes (yellow triangle and red circle tables respectively), and that she got to play on the playground but that the monkey bars were off limits. I decided to treat her to an icecream cone in honor of starting school. I tried to make it perfectly clear that this would not be happening on a regular basis (McDonalds is just down the street from school) so hopefully I won't have a problem tomorrow.

Once home I tried to interview Liz so that I could preserve some of her early impressions of kindergarten and public school, but she was more interested in playing with her My Little Ponies.