Today was a beautiful day.
Addie didn't cry.
I didn't cry.
We were ready and I think she was ready too.
Addie had a wonderful day at school!
She needed reassurance from her teachers a few times, but I'm sure that is typical of any child.
She woke around 6:00 a.m. and was excited about starting her day.
I like to think that over the last month as she heard all of her friends at daycare talk about, "Going to Kindergarten", that she was hoping that maybe she would get to go too.
I gave her a great big good morning hug and told her that today was
her
day to go to Kindergarten.
Somewhere deep inside my heart, I think she understood.
She was silly while trying to take a picture with her Daddy.
My beautiful Baby Girl!
She was very proud of her new "badge".
Part of me is surprised that she didn't try to scan it before we walked through the doors of the school.
On the way to school, she sat with her snack/lunch bag on her lap and her backpack inches from her car seat.
She unzipped and zipped the bag about a hundred times, all the while rearranging the placement of her water bottle and apple sauce inside the bag.
She wanted everything to be just perfect.
She was so nervous!
She kept tugging at my clothes and she was shaking like crazy, so I finally bent down to give her a big hug!
It was tough, I was so afraid she would hit the point of no return.
Once we stepped through the doors of the school, she calmed down.
Just a moment later, we spotted Mrs. Allison - so excited about Addie's big day!
Addie didn't hesitate to walk right up to her!
I slipped Addie's backpack on her, gave her a big hug and stepped back.
I couldn't believe the moment was finally here.
She turned back to us.
We gave her a big reassuring smile and waved to her before she walked away.
We gave her a big reassuring smile and waved to her before she walked away.
Although she was nervous, she managed a sweet smile.
This was the moment we waited so patiently to see - for five years.
After we took Addie to school, Chris and I went to see my Mother, had some lunch with our margarita's at Chuy's and then enjoyed an afternoon of pampering.
We needed it - bad.
I asked Chris if he thought we had any regrets or if we could have or should have done something differently for Addie over the last five years - to make life better for her.
We feel like we have done the best we knew how to do.
We feel like we have fought for her and we don't feel like we have let her down.
I just hope she feels the same way.
Please continue your support and love as we take the next step on our journey.
An encounter last night proved to me how important it is for me to continue to talk about Addie's journey - not only as therapy for me and to chronicle her journey for her, but also to continue to educate.
In closing for this beautiful day in our lives, I'll leave you with the words that I said to my husband the first chance I had to wrap my arms around him and take in all that had transpired in one mornings time.
I knew that if I said too much, I would start to tear up, so all I managed was to summarize our first five years of fighting for Addie in three little words:
"We did it."
August 20, 2012
