Maddie's first day of 1st grade

As we mentioned before, the 1st and 2nd grades at the girls' school started a few weeks earlier than the younger grades. Maddie's first day was last Thursday. She had half days on Thursday and Friday, and this week started full days (until 3pm.) It has been a transition, but a good one. I feel like we're already in a good groove just a week into the school year.

She had a great time last week seeing her old friends again. She was so excited to tell them about her two loose teeth. Well, Saturday afternoon we were all milling about, getting ready to go out when Bill was talking to Maddie about how he pulled out his loose teeth when he was little. He told her just to gently pull the tooth forward more and more until... Well, Maddie did exactly as he explained and... POP! Out came her tooth! We were all so surprised! She, of course, was THRILLED! I'd planned on making her a little Tooth Fairy pillow to put under her own pillow for her first tooth, but I hadn't anticipated it happening so soon! I quickly whipped something up (which was so poorly done that I plan on redoing it) and she was able to put her tooth in it that night. The Tooth Fairy came, as promised, and left her a whopping $5. (FYI: I'd heard the going rate for the Tooth Fairy these days is $5 for the first tooth, followed by $1 for each tooth thereafter.) You should have seen her face when she woke up on Sunday morning. Maddie is usually the last one awake, and even then doesn't fully wake up until an hour later, but she bounded out of her room with a huge smile on her face, so excited to show us what the Tooth Fairy had left her!

You can't tell from this pic, but she was thrilled.

This week has proven to be really good so far too. I wasn't sure how Maddie would handle the long days, but despite being a little grumpy, she's done okay. It's hard to still fit in some of her usual daily quiet time when she comes home and plays for a while and then has homework, dinner, bath, etc. We're still ironing that part out. Plus, this year she has P.E. on three days a week, so that wears her out even more.