Claire's Week of Firsts

Elsa wasn't the only one who had a big week!

Claire had her first day of preschool on Wednesday. Claire is in the Goldfinch Room at Audubon—quite a change, since Elsa spent all three of her years there in the Chickadee Room! Claire is doing roughly the same schedule as Elsa did her first year: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 8:45 to 11:30 a.m.

Claire's teachers this year are Miss Michelle (Elsa had Miss Michelle her first year at Audubon) and Miss Kristen (Elsa had Miss Kristen last year). So we miss Miss Liesl (whom Elsa had as a teacher the last two years), but Claire loves Miss Michelle. In fact, Claire would often give Miss Michelle hugs in the hallway last year whenever we ran into her at drop-off and pick-up. Which is funny, because Claire was 13 months old the last time Elsa had Miss Michelle in class, so it couldn't be that Claire actually remembers Miss Michelle. I think Claire's hugs were based entirely on the fact that Elsa was hugging her first. : ) But whatever. I knew Claire liked Miss Michelle, so regardless of the reason, that was good enough for me to request that Claire be in her class this year!

Claire's first day went very well. Among other things, they went for a short hike and learned about butterflies (they saw lots of monarch butterflies on the prairie). It struck me, as I dropped Claire off, how different this experience was from Elsa's first day of 5K, and even from Elsa's first day at Audubon three years ago. We now know practically everybody at Audubon, we know the building and the grounds, we know all the routines, and we know what to wear and what to bring. Claire waltzed on in there like she owned the place. As usual, Elsa cleared the path at Audubon, and now, as Claire enjoys an easy transition, Elsa's moved on to the next place. We're just starting to whack away the weeds at Donges Bay, but when Claire gets there in a few years, I'm sure her path will be just as clear. : )

Elsa did not have school on Wednesday (half of her class started on Tuesday, and the other half started on Wednesday, so she got Wednesday off). So Elsa was able to go with me to drop off Claire for her first day at Audubon. Afterwards, Elsa and I had a special morning—we went for pancakes, then came back to Audubon and hiked to Boardwalk Pond. We saw frogs, turtles, birds, a squirrel that tried to throw pine cones at us from high in the trees above, and a deer staring at us from just off the path (there he is, standing in the shadows in the photo above). It was a very nice hike and I think it was the perfect thing to do—enjoying some nature in Elsa's "safe place" after her emotional first day of kindergarten the day before.

As we headed back to the building after our hike, we passed by one of the playspaces, and there was Claire's class, listening to the teachers read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." So we got a chance to spy on Claire a little without her seeing us. She seemed so happy to be there! She's been waiting for her turn for so long, it was great to see her enjoying it. Afterward, the teachers said the whole class did remarkably well, with no crying and good cooperation from everybody.

That wasn't even Claire's only big first for this week: Here's another thing she's been waiting literally her entire life for. It was her first day of dance class!

Again, this is something Claire has been watching Elsa do for years, and she's been waiting so patiently (and not so patiently!) for her turn. I'm so glad the time has finally come! Sadly, when we showed up to her dance class, we learned that she was the only kid signed up for that particular class. The class is Thursdays from 1:30 to 2:15, which I did think was an odd time for a 3-year-old class (what about all the 3-year-olds who still nap?), but it worked for us, so I signed up. Apparently it didn't work for anybody else. So Claire got a private lesson this week, and the teacher said she did very well. There is a 4-year-old class right before Claire's class, so if nobody else signs up, I'm going to move Claire up to that one. The kids will all be older than her, and it's an hour instead of 45 minutes, but I think she'll do fine, and she'll be so cute and little compared to the rest of them. : )

Other than that, this week for Claire has been all about adjusting to Elsa being gone so much. And it hasn't been easy for her. Today I suddenly realized she had gone upstairs by herself, which is incredibly rare for her. I went upstairs and found her playing quietly by herself ... in Elsa's room. I asked, "Are you in here because you miss Elsa?" She said, "Yeah, I came in here because it reminds me." She misses her big sister, all right.