Now that the girls have had three weeks of school under their belts, it seemed like a good time to update readers on how they’re doing. Zoe (no surprise here) took to 2nd grade immediately and seems to quite like the new class, new teachers, etc. New this year is parents having to say good-bye to their students outside of the classroom (versus walking them in and getting them settled, which is the norm in kindergarten and 1st), but Zoe hasn’t minded saying early good-byes to us at all. A few of the days, Miss Independent even ran far ahead of me and Avery and went into her classroom without much more than a turn of the head and a quick wave.

As for Avery, she seems to be soaking up kindergarten like a sponge. Every day she comes home telling a story from class, or singing a song she learned there – she is more excited and animated about kindergarten than she ever was about any of her preschool classes. She had a tough drop-off the other morning (tears, pleas for me not to leave, etc.), but on every other day she’s bounced away from me and Q happily. And we know how happy she is overall; she told me recently that she was in the “best kindergarten in the whole wide world.”

-M

“I am never talking to my sister, EVER AGAIN,” Avery screamed from her bedroom the other night. I looked at my watch: Her “never” lasted two minutes.

-M

Zoe also had something on display for Back to School Night – an outline of her wishes for the future, including a hope for a “long and healthy and happy life.” I second that!

-M

Back to School Night – a time to meet the girls’ new teachers and look around their classrooms – was held one night last week. A highlight was in Avery’s classroom, where I saw a drawing that she had made around the idea of kindness. She used as her example of kindness when “my mom takes me out for pizza, because that always makes me feel nice.”

Who knew such a small thing could make such an impression?

-M

Soccer’s a pretty big thing at the girls’ school, and we signed up an eager Avery over the summer. She’s never played soccer, or any group sport, before, but she seems willing to learn! Her first practice was Thursday afternoon, and she was all smiles for the camera.

-M

As Avery finished up her breakfast this morning, I commented that she’ll soon have two weeks of school under her belt. “You’re a big kindergartener,” I told her proudly. She looked me up and down, thought for a moment, and said, “And you’re a big worker girl!”

-M

Today is our 10-year (!) anniversary, and Zoe is particularly excited about it. She made us a little gift and excitedly presented it – along with a card – in a little box she had decorated and wrapped in a bow. The card (which she said came from Avery, too – she just forgot to write her name) was particularly sweet.

-M

On a walk the other day, Avery – who routinely stops to look at/smell any colorful flower or flowery looking weed – asked me how dandelions sprout, since people don’t plant them. I answered honestly that I wasn’t sure, so she suggested we ask Grandma. “Do you think she’ll know?” I asked, to which Avery replied: “Of course she’ll know – she’s your mom.”

-M

And here she is, with Zachary. (Their desks are even next to each other.)

-M

In Zoe’s video from before school started, she made reference to the fact that she wasn’t in her best friend Zachary’s class. Indeed, when we received the class rosters a few days before school began, Zoe and Zachary were listed as being in different classes. (They have been in every class, dating back to preschool, for the last five years – so it’s kind of a big deal.) Zoe was initially disappointed – not only about not being with Zachary, but also about not getting the teacher she was hoping for, Mrs. Klein – but she quickly bounced back. She started getting excited about the other teacher (she especially liked that her first name was Penny – the name of a character on one of Zoe’s favorite TV shows) and about being in class with some other close friends.

Through an unusual set of circumstances, though, Zoe wound up being with Zachary after all: The head of school called us last Monday and told us that a clerical mistake had been made, and Zoe’s name was left off Mrs. Klein’s roster! He asked Zoe to report to Mrs. Klein’s class on Tuesday, which is what she did…

Zoe had a great first week of second grade, and I was pretty proud of how she handled the class switch. Some kids (including probably Avery) might have been less adaptable and not thrilled to be told that they were in class, and then another. Zoe, though, rolled with it all, and it feels like she’s right where she was supposed to be.

-M

A picture of Avery in front of her classroom, as well as her first official drawing as a kindergartener (a birthday cake in honor of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah).

-M

It’s been a big week for the girls – especially Avery. It started out a bit rocky, when she took me by surprise by not wanting to enter the classroom during her one-hour orientation on Monday. She didn’t cry but wouldn’t let go of me for a good 20 minutes, and she later told me, “I just acted that way because it’s a new classroom and a new school. I won’t act like that tomorrow.” Indeed, she kept her word – and every other drop-off has gone smoothly. And though she complained yesterday that kindergarten was “boring” (“All we do is sit on the rug, and the teachers just teach us stuff,” she griped), it’s been reported to us that she’s all smiles in the classroom and on the playground.

-M

As I wrote on Facebook this morning, we’re a preschooler-free household! Today was the first day of school, and after a few photos at home, our (very excited) 2nd grader grabbed the hand of the kindergartener – and they were off…

M

Avery provided some thoughts on kindergarten not long ago, but she elaborates – and answers some of the same questions that I asked Zoe just before she started kindergarten – in the video below. Zoe also takes time to talk about second grade in her own video.

-M

Just like her sister before her, Avery attended her new school’s ice-cream social yesterday and a one-hour orientation for new students this morning. After all the anticipation, the wait is over: She’s a kindergartener!

-M