First day of school

Nora is off at her very first day of daycare/preschool.

 I'm off to stock up on Kleenex.

Here she is having her umpteenth bowl of Cheerios (she's addicted).

And here's how the scene unfolded when her brother insisted on sending her off to school with a hug.

In case you can't tell, that's a hit, not a hug.

F

Finally, she gives in.

Is it really possible that my little girl is big enough for preschool? And a backpack? This is the very same backpack Sidamo wore on his first day of school. He seemed like such a big kid then, but Nora still very much feels like a baby—to me, at least. 

Funny, I just reread that post about Sidamo's first day of school and his singing of the alphabet song. Nora also sang the alphabet song this morning when we got to her new school (it's her hand-washing ritual), in her sweet little sing-songy voice. I'm going to try to hold onto that memory, because it was just so sweet and adorable. But reading about Sidamo singing the ABCs on his first day of school, which was when he was a few months older than Nora is no, reminds me that really she's not any more babyish than Sidamo was at her age. In fact, she's probably less so. I guess I'm just trying to hold on to the fleeting moments of babyhood with Nora since she's, well, the baby of the family, and once she's officially a preschooler, I'm officially not the mom of a baby anymore. And that's just not territory I'm ready to leave. 

(Note: Now would be a good time to remind me of the sleep deprivation I suffered during the early days/months/years before I start remembering it all as sunshine and roses.)