kindergarden on Monday

My little girl is starting school on Monday. Of course, we have referred to daycare as her school since she was 2 years old, so that has probably eased some of the anxiety for her. But she is so pumped about it that she was excited to get her last vaccination on Wednesday. She cried a little, but for a couple of days she talked about that being the last thing she needed to do to be ready for school. My dad told her they wouldn't let her in the door without that shot, so she was going to get that shot.

My guess is that a child starting kinder is emotional for any parent. It is extra-emotional for me, I think. There was only one time Becky expressed a goal while battling cancer other than remission, and she told me that she wanted to live long enough to see Katie start school. I am sure that she has a great seat, but I am just as sure it is not the seat she wanted.

Katie is so ready for school. You can tell she is the daughter of two math nerds. We have been playing with an abacus recently. (Yes, we got her an abacus for her first birthday. She loved toys that had beads moving from side to side, so that got her started playing with it.) Anyway, tonight we were talking about the commutative property of addition and multiplication. I didn't call it that, of course, but we would do simple adding, 4+3 or whatever, and it was easy enough that she looked at me like, come on, Dad, this is silly. But then I would turn the abacus around so the little group of four was on the other side. And so she could see that 4+3 was the same as 3+4. To do multiplication, we would turn it on its side, so a little 4x3 rectangle would have as many beads as the 3x4 rectangle.

Mrs. Massey at the orientation mentioned that she is getting her master's degree right now. It is in reading, and I am pleased with that. Somehow I think Katie will be okay with the math stuff regardless of who her teacher is. So getting a reading expert is a lucky break.

I am now a PTA member, and Katie is a proud owner of a Royal Ridge Patriots T-shirt. She has decided that the cute little skirt and blouse outfit my mom got for her will be relegated to Tuesday, and she will wear her Patriot shirt on Monday. And she is also excited that the first two lunches are two of her favorite meals: chicken nuggets on Monday and pepperoni pizza on Tuesday. Does it get any better for a kid?

On the flip side, tomorrow is her last day at Christ the King Lutheran's child development center. She started there just eight weeks after her mother died as we had to move back to San Antonio. The women there have been a godsend. There were prettier daycares, with nicer looking playgrounds and fancier cubbyholes to put goofy artwork, but I cannot believe she would have been loved anywhere as much as she was loved there. The director lost her father when she was four years old, and has had for 15 months an extra bit of attention for Katie. Ms. Heike, Ms. Linda, and Ms. Tina have all been wonderful. And so tomorrow will be somewhat emotional too. Hopefully not for too long; I have a lunch date tomorrow. Woo-hoo.