Dear Bug (fka Baby Bean*) . . .

You start kindergarten tomorrow—where has the time gone?  Where is my little baby?

Yesterday we went out and got haircuts (with Bean) and bought some school clothes.  You had such a good time tonight showing your fashions to your Princess dolls.  Then you and Bean picked out what you will be wearing each day this week for school.  It was all so cute.

You did great at your kindergarten assessment last week.  By coincidence, the teacher who did you assessment is going to be your teacher for the next year.  You seemed to get along with her and I’m hoping that everything will go well for you.  We did find out last week that this is going to be a bit different than we thought. We’ve been telling you all summer that you will be having lunch at home with daddy. Well, we were wrong.  Your school does all day kindergarten.  That means we drop you off for school at 7:30 for 7:45 start time and then you do not come home until 1:45.  It is going to be a long day for you, but I think you will do great.

I might be more worried for daddy.  A couple of weeks ago you and I were talking about school.  Your first comment, “daddy is going to miss me so much.”  I think you are right.  You have been his buddy for the last five years.  You have been by his side every day, all day—except for the three months when you were in preschool.  It is going to be different for him.  I’m not sure what he is going to do for the first week or so.  But it will be good for both of you.

Sunday night was another big milestone for you.  You lost your first tooth!  You told me a couple of weeks ago that you thought it was loose and I wasn’t quite sure.  Bean has been talking about loose teeth and she actually lost one of her last week.  I didn’t believe that you were old enough to lose a tooth already.  But there you were, you and Bean were in our room watching tv and having a tickle fest.  I guess, from what I can piece together, Bean accidentally hit you in the mouth and the next thing we knew you were both running into the front room—laughing about losing your tooth. Unfortunately, the laughter only lasted a few minutes before you freaked out a bit.  For the rest of the night you wouldn’t close your mouth—you said it was freaking you out.  But you were also so excited about the tooth fairy.  Getting you to bed early wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.

My wish for you in the next year is to just have fun.  Enjoy kindergarten.  Make friends. Learn and be a kid!

I love you!

Love, Mom

* Although I’ve been calling her baby bean, she is now our bug.  She wanted her own “name” and Bean wanted her name to herself again!