Kindergarten

Jessica started kindergarten today.

In typical Jessica fashion, this is how the preparation went: I had picked out a dress and tights for her a few days ago. I showed them to her last night and got her approval. It was an aqua dress and aqua tights.

This morning when I said it was time to get dressed, she immediately told me she wanted to wear purple. Whatever. I checked her closet and she had a short-sleeved purple dress hanging there. I took it down and gave it to her.

In typical Laura fashion, I didn't realize until we were walking to the bus stop that the purple dress had a spot on it. A rather large spot.

But other than a slightly dirty dress, everything went fine. I had planned to drive to the bus stop, just because I was going to take her brother to daycare immediately after. But she wanted to walk, so we walked. Daddy and Xander were with us. The cat decided to come along too.

At the bus stop 1 other kindergartner, a 1st and 2nd grader, and a 6th grader joined us. I wasn't the only one with a camera. The bus was relatively on time (apparently last year on the first day it was 20 minutes late). I was so busy taking pictures I almost didn't have time for a quick hug and kiss before she climbed up onto the bus. She totally took it in stride.

I'll admit, I was a bit worried about how she'd do. She's done a fair amount of crying and clinging at drop-offs, especially in new situations, and as recently as this summer at camp. She told us several times yesterday that she had butterflies in her stomach. Maybe it was just the hustle and bustle of getting on the bus, but whatever it was, I was so proud of my little girl.

At least there are no panty lines......

Author's note: this post has been 3 months in the making, partially because I kept getting new material to add to it.

Jessica has a problem keeping on her underwear. I first recognized this problem at a Memorial Day barbeque. I had laid out clothes for her to wear but somehow she ended up at the bbq sans underwear.

Of course, I didn't realize it till at least halfway through the afternoon. And it was at least half an hour after she turned fast and gave the bbq attendees an eyeful. I thought they were laughing because they could see her underwear, silly Mommy.

When I asked her why she wasn't wear her underwear, she told me I didn't put it out for her. Obviously the idea of asking me to get her some never occurred to her.

Several times after that, she didn't put on underwear again because she said I didn't put it out for her. I repeated she should ask me for it if she doesn't see it, not just to not wear it.

About a week later after Memorial Day we were at another bbq. This time she had an accident. Since I didn't have extra panties with me, she went without underwear for the rest of day. Unlike the Memorial Day bbq, however, she was wearing a much shorter dress.

Then there was the time I sent her to camp in her bathing suit. I packed underwear in her backpack for after swim was over but she didn't see it so when she got dressed, she just didn't put on any underwear.

Are you seeing a theme here?

Apparently, this lack of undergarments is quite memorable. Her friend Ainsley protested wearing underwear one day saying, "Jessica doesn't." Fabulous. That's what my kid is going to be known for.

"I'll be right back"

Jessica has a tendency to put her shirts and underwear on backwards. I always tell her to look for the label, but apparently that's advice wasted on youth. Yesterday morning I noticed her pajama top looked like it was on backwards because the collar was really high. I asked her if if shirt was on backwards and reached forward to look for the label.

She pulled away, peeked at the inside of the collar, then said, "I'll be right back," and disappeared into the bedroom. A minute later she was back. I could see that now there was a little applique flower in the center of the collar, indicating front was front.

She proudly said, "See! It wasn't on backwards."

Wow, I guess I was wrong. ; )

Random quotes

So Aunt Nutan gave me a great quote by Jessica from over the weekend (when she was in NJ and I was in MA and therefore didn't hear it myself):
"So, Kiran's done milking you?"

This made me think of some other funny things she's said.

Towards the end of the school year, apparently she developed the habit (this was told to me by her teacher), when a large group of kids got too loud and excited, of saying, "Okay, everyone, just calm down." On a related theme, she also likes to talk about "freaking out."

Finally, she's been telling me all summer about this boy the kids saw on the playground at camp. Only she refers to him as "skateboard dude."

It's amazing the slang terms they pick up.

Quote of the day

(while swimming at the pool) "Water hugs are the best."

Repost

I posted this on FB (that's Facebook for you nonbelievers), but it was so funny that I still laugh when I think about it, so I'm recording it for posterity in Jessica's blog.

A while ago, Jessica developed the amusing habit of saying "Alert! Alert!" when something was happening that she thought needed adult intervention. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Xander had a poopy diaper and ran upstairs when I told him I wanted to change it. Within a couple of minutes, we heard Jessica shouting from upstairs, "Stink alert! Stink alert!"

The end of an era

Jessica has, for several years, been obssessed with the colors pink and purple, to the point where she refused to wear anything else. I could occasionally slip in an orange or a cyan but for the most part, her wardrobe was P&P.

Today, we were at Target. They had T-shirts on sale, and she's outgrowing her 5's, so I decided to get a few for school. She was with me, so I grabbed the plain pastel pink top and asked her if she wanted it, as I was throwing it into the cart.

"No."

Scrreeeeeeech. It was like the sound of rubbing the needle against a vinyl record.

What? No?

She then pointed out a polka dotted purple shirt she wanted. Okay, that was within the accepted color scheme. Then she picked, gasp, a blue (and pink) striped shirt. I told her she could also get the pink shirt (they were only $4; what can I say, I'm a big spender). Still no. She told me she wanted the ones with patterns.

Daring to be bold, I asked if she wanted the polka dotted brown shirt. And she said yes!

Really pushing my luck, I asked her what she would wear them with. Would she wear them with jeans?

"Yes."

You all probably felt the earth stop spinning for that single moment.

Jeans. My girl agreed to wear jeans.

Of course, it's a big step from saying she's going to wear them and having her actually willingly put them on, but it's a good first step.