Another First

Before traveling to bring Tootle home, one of my biggest concerns about adopting an almost three year old was that I would miss out on a lot of the firsts: first tooth, first steps, first words, etc. But I quickly realized that there were still firsts to celebrate; they were just different. Today we marked one of the traditional milestones: Tootle's first day of kindergarten. Tootle's first words when she woke up this morning were: "Today's the first day of school." And she leaped right into it, without a tear and with her usual tenacity. She sang one of the songs she learned for us tonight and reported that her big problem of the day was that a preschool friend and a neighborhood friend, neither of whom is in her class, both wanted to play with her at recess, and they didn't want to play as a threesome because they didn't know each other. I gave her advice, but I'm sure she will smooth out this problem, and before long, she will be playing with new friends from her class as well.

Doodle had a terrific first day of fourth grade as well. Doodle begged for several weeks to see the movie "Hairspray," and over the weekend, we all went to see it. The girls loved the music so much that we bought the soundtrack. Last night, the girls were bopping to "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now." I quickly grabbed the camcorder and recorded Tootle's interpretive dance to symbolize that she's a big girl now. So she is.