Quinn and I went together with Tatum to her first day of kindergarten. She wasn't nervous at all; she didn't even expect us to go in with her. But we did, and we took pictures. We even got one of her with her teacher, Mrs. Hiatt.
After school she hopped into the car and said, "Recess is awesome!" I noticed that she was minus her tights. She said it was way too hot on the playground. We'll save the tights for colder weather.
She also told me that the principal read them The Gingerbread Man, and then they made gingerbread cookies. Tatum got to put the butter in. She had a delightful first day.
It's just hitting me now, the night before my little Tatum starts kindergarten, how fast the time has gone. I have so many thoughts that are just now surfacing. I've been so focused on making sure she has school clothes, shots, registration, and meet-the-teacher night taken care of that I haven't had time to realize what a momentous occasion this is. Didn't we just barely have her? Weren't we just remarking that she was walking? And now, school. The little-kid days are over. The home-with-Mom days are over. Starting tomorrow at 11:30, Tatum is in school, and life is different forever. It's her official transition to becoming a big kid. I'm so proud of her and nostalgic at the same time. This is the first time I've really felt the way it tugs on my heart to know that everything I'm teaching her is preparing her to leave someday. It's bittersweet. I've been so excited for her to start school, and now I don't know if I'm ready to let her go.
I'm a work-from-home mom of three, but I only got to give birth to two. Quinn and I have been married since 2002, when Braiden was a little toddler. Braiden became a big brother in 2003, when Tatum was born. Then in 2007, we had Teague. In April 2009, Teague had a brain tumor diagnosed and removed, spent the summer in radiation therapy, and that cancer is now gone. We're counting our blessings and hoping for a cancer-free life.
