THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

Today was

THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

and everyone survived. I clearly remember crying for my mother on my first day of kindergarten, but WCK was completely calm and composed. Her school offered a little gathering for parents called "Tea and Tissues". Right after drop off, you could come hang out with the other parents, have a doughnut, and cry if you wanted to. Really, I think it was a way to bribe parents away from hanging out in the kindergarten classroom all morning. If you leave your kid, you get a doughnut. Mmm, yummy doughnut.

WCK wanted to know why it was called "Tea and Tissues."

"You can go have tea with the other moms and dads," I said. "And they have tissues, in case some of the moms and dads cry."

WCK was floored by this. "Why would the moms and dads cry?"

"Because we'll miss you so much," I said. "Maybe I'll cry. I'll miss you. Are you sure you don't want to skip kindergarten and stay home with me?"

WCK did not have time for this nonsense.

"Mama," she said impatiently, "I need to go to kindergarten so I can learn. Maybe it would help you if you had a stuffed animal with you."

Hmm. Maybe it would.