Not the Only One

I used to tease my mother about the fact that, being the third child, I had no baby book.  No record of my first word, no mention of when I started to crawl or stand or walk, no time of birth documented anywhere.  You get the idea.  On the other hand, my biggest brother (who probably didn't and doesn't care as much as I about such things) had a baby book.  We all know that cracker was his first word and that when he was born my father went to the bakery and bought two half-moon cookies in celebration.  (One for himself; one for the dog.)

I never understood this cruel discrepancy in the recording of our baby years.

Until I had more children myself.

Let me just say: Jillson is not the only one who started school ten days ago.  Madelyn, too, made her first foray into the world of school.  Sure, it was just preschool.  But she couldn't wait.  (You may have noticed that she wore her backpack to the bus stop with Jillson on Jillson's first day.  Eager eager eager.)

August 4th, 2011 was the first time that both of my little chickadees were out there in the world officially being taught by people other than me.  And I've been suffering from a fair amount of maternal guilt that while Jillson's send-off was well and truly documented here, Madelyn's was not.

I will admit that Madelyn's first day was a far less emotional affair for me.  Preschool can still sort of be looked upon as daycare, whereas kindergarten is the start of the long, long journey called Education--a journey which will take my daughters from kid to adult, from coloring pages to writing theses and dissertations, and, ultimately, from the safety of our little nest to unknown destinations AWAY FROM ME.  But I digress.

This is a post about Madelyn.  I swear it is.

So, without further ado, I present to you a few pictures of MADELYN'S big preschool debut.

The first step was getting Jillson on the bus.  Here they are "smiling" for the camera.

Next, we have Maddie, loaded into the "Jay-Jay Bus," as she calls it, i.e. the minivan.  I talked her into a semi-smile.

Too cool for school in front of St. Anne's.  (Click to see slightly larger, but I must confess that Maddie's first-day photos had to be taken with my iPhone because the battery on the good camera--which I had checked neurotically before Jillson's first day--had gone dead before Maddie's first day. I know. I am terrible.  What's it going to be like for MY third kid?  Oh, yeah, I think you went to preschool before kindergarten, but who knows....)

"No more pictures, Mom!  I want to go IN!" Running, running, running into school.  LOVE HER.

Since these pics, Madelyn has had three days of preschool (she only goes two mornings a week), and her wonderful German teacher informs me that she has taken to school like a duck to water. This does not surprise me one bit.

Miss Claudia also reports that Maddie went pee on the potty twice at school, so there remains a shred of hope that I might not have two kids in diapers at the same time for very long.  (Madelyn's potty training progress was stilted by the move.  She currently insists that she wants to wear a diaper "until the baby comes out" at which point she will give her diapers to the baby and start wearing underwear.)

We shall see.