First Days- For Those Of Us Left Behind

 I have been asked if there were any tears on the first day of kindergarten.
From Little One: Please.  The girl was like a chihuahua on pixie stix She was so excited to be there.  Walking up to the teeming masses before the bell rang, She admitted, "I am a little scared, Mom.  But I'm pretty brave.  So it's ok."  Other than that moment, She was all smiles.
No tears from me, either.  You read right! Because:
Miss had enough sadness for us all.  For Her, the trauma was multifaceted; She lost Her best friend, being left behind in both a physical and metaphorical sense, and preschool doesn't start for another week and a half.  Which is, I'm told, "Impinity" years away (three-year-old time).
To lessen the blow a little bit, I tried to talk up how great it will be for us to have all this time together in the mornings, just us two (and a half. Mister naps, so He only gets a half), and I told Her that on the first day, we could do ANYTHING SHE WANTED.  ANYthing.  Go to the zoo, out for ice cream, a museum, swimming, whatever She wanted to do.  I braced myself to hear what crazy thing She would come up with.  She's got a good imagination.
Here's Her choice:  To stay home and play together in the playroom with toys.
So we did.  We played with airplanes, princesses, dress-up dolls, and an aircraft carrier.  We played pretend.  And, because it's Missy, we cleaned everything up as we went, and we also played "orga-zizing" games.  Here are the animals, orga-zized into flying, walking, and swimming.

 I think it's interesting how She so instantly and definitively categorized the ducks and geese, and not always into the same pile.  The snake got it's own pile, because, as She explained, "it on-y sliss-ahs."
After Mister woke up, I talked Her into a picnic at a new playground and She loved it.

A tractor drive right onto the playground, and a couple of deer walked by as well, so there was plenty of excitement.  Without the shadow of Her big sister, She was unusually chatty with strangers who said hello, and was so proud to be the one that got to show off baby brother and list all the ages of the kids in the family.  On the way to pick Little One up, She even said She wanted Little One to go to school another day so we could have more "fun things wif us".  In the last two days, we've baked cookies together, played games, read stories, worked in the garden together, and even just cuddled on the couch.  Each day, I offer any outing of Her choice, and so far She'd rather just hang out at home.  This morning we read for two hours, played chutes and ladders, and then as I pushed Her on the backyard swing, She sighed, "Oh, Mama.  Isn't it just so. nice. and. PEACEFUL. I love this a bazillion."  I love it.  I love Her appreciation for the simple; how many of us never get it?  I love the wisdom beyond Her years (and maybe mine) for Her to know that we will have more real, quality time, if we just stay somewhere quiet, the two of us, and be together.  I have truly enjoyed these few mornings with my middlest baby.  As much as I'm looking forward to Her getting to go to school and begin making Her own friends and Her own way in the bigger world, I'm also really treasuring these days.  In which She's the teacher, and I'm the student.