Annelie the All Star

I'm not gonna lie - I was VERY nervous about Annelie starting kindergarten. When it comes to temperament, she's an extreme version of myself, and by the time I was her age, I'd been in the principal's office more times than I could count - AND one of those times was to inform me that my 5-year-old bestie wasn't allowed to play with me anymore, because her mother thought I was too horrible and therefore a terrible influence on her daughter.

Yep, I was very, very nervous about Annelie starting kindergarten. I expected to hear the phone ringing non-stop, with frantic calls from her teacher begging me to homeschool.

When the first day of school came around and Annelie's (totally adorable and super sweet) teacher sent home a 3-page packet filled with All About Your Kid questions - words to describe kiddo, favorite things, as well as my favorite question: What would you like me to know about your child? - I was THRILLED.

A chance to explain Annelie, before the teacher even got to know her?!!! It was a mother-of-a-very-smart-but-VERY-moody-and-often-problematic-child's dream.

But... when it came to filling out the form, I decided to skip the disclaimer and let Annelie explain herself. Sure, I put in the words to describe her, as asked (vivacious, friendly, giving - because it's true - she is definitely all of these things). But when it came to Things To Know About Annelie, I left it at, "Avoid giving her red dye 40 as it can bring on potentially vicious mood swings."

I bit my nails as I put the 3-page paper in Annelie's folder to take to school, wondering if I should have written more. I bit my nails worse when Annelie came home boasting about the red and orange M&Ms she ate at school.

But 6 weeks of school passed and the only notes sent home were these:

(the Get Well Soon note was delivered by Gracie, who had been called to Annelie's classroom to pick it up)

And wouldn't you know it, my kiddo was one of the fifteen students (out of 600!!!) picked as an All Star - an example to the rest of the students at her school for having exemplary behavior, making good choices, and being a great friend to everyone. The reward - a lunchtime bus ride over to the pizza place and arcade, to celebrate with the other All Stars, and their parents.

We had a great lunch. I'm so proud of my kiddo!

Proud of BOTH my kiddos - as Gracie won this same award in her first six weeks of kindergarten, too - and has kept up her All Star awesome behavior ever since.

I guess sometimes it takes letting them out of our eyesight in order to watch them bloom.

xoxo,