"I'm a Big Boy"

Today was Cade's first day of school. He is attending what is called MELP (Mesa Early Learning Program) that is basically a pre-kindergarten class. He goes 4 days a week and it is at the school where he will go to kindergarten. So this morning we woke up (way too early thanks to the late night/early morning thunderstorms which brought the scared kids into our bedroom) and got ready for school.

Cade insisted that he do his own hair. (Please, please, please ignore the dirty mirror!) He declared, "I'm a big boy."

He dressed in his favorite dinosaur shirt and his new Transformers light-up sneakers, grabbed his new Transformers school bag I made for him last night and headed out. He took his beloved blankey but left it in the car...willingly. Yes, he is a big boy!

The story behind the school bag is that I made Myla a couple of dresses over the summer and Cade was a little miffed that I hadn't made anything for him yet. I don't blame him! So we went to the fabric store and he chose whatever fabric he wanted. Of course it was the Transformers fabric. Now what to make him? We finally came up with the school bag and he was so excited. I was so bummed because after I had assembled it and sewn it up, I turned it right side out and the fabric was upside down. So all the Transformers are looking down. Oh well. I figured if Cade complained about it I would make another one. But he didn't. As he's holding it on his shoulder, when he looks down the Transformers seem right side up. :)

In front of the school.

This is in front of his classroom door. This is where it got hard, for Cade and for Mom. He was so excited and ready to go...until it was time to go in. He clung to me a little, I got a little teary-eyed (but tried to hide it) and then his teacher came and helped him to the circle. One of his teachers is actually an old friend of mine from junior high! When we went to meet the teachers she said, "You're Christie Webb!" and I said, "You're Cece Nava!" I was surprised we recognized each other. It's been 16 years since junior high. So it was fun to tell Cade that one of his teachers was an old friend of mine.

When I picked Cade up he was excited to tell Myla and me what he did that day. He played with dinosaurs, spelled some small words for his teachers and ate ice cream. Sounds like a good day to me!