First day of school, first day of school!

This week came the first day of school.  This is actually the third time for Reagan (she is a pro and will tell you all about it) but it was the first time for Caroline.  To be honest I was worried to death about how Caroline would do.  She is so emotional and likes things her way.  A perfect mix between her Dad and her Mom.  I was worried she wouldn't like her class, she would be nervous and just suck her thumb the whole time, really I was worried about everything.  I think I was dreading the first day for Caroline more than any of the girls.  She is a sensitive soul and my fatherly instincts wanted to protect her.  When you are a parent you try to block out all the things that can go wrong because if you don't it can paralyze you with fear.  That fear will only get worse as they get older.  However, there are two things you can take comfort in.  1) You hope that you and your partner have raised them to make the best choice in any situation.  My parents did that with me and Brooke's did with her.  Our parenting ability is a direct result of our experience being raised by our parents.  So you do the best you can and hope they do the same in return. 2) Is your faith.  Faith in something higher than yourself.  For us being Catholic and our faith in God is very important (more on that later).  The rest is sort of like driving down the interstate at 75 miles per hour and throwing your steering wheel out the window. You just hold on and pray for the best.

I will tell you it hasn't gotten any easier.  Every day I drop Reagan off at school a part of me hurts.  She is getting bigger and bigger and needs us less and less.  I understand now why as a Sophomore in college when my father dropped me off at my house with my roommates, the only one crying was him.  It just never gets easy.  Well with Caroline- I cant imagine where she got her emotional side- i was worried it wouldn't work.  School would be a fight, she would cry all the time, etc.  While we are only two days into it, I could not have been more wrong.  Brooke had to call her back for a kiss because she took off running into her class.  Part of this is the great environment Seton provides for their kids, part of this is because Brooke and Reagan have prepared her for that moment, and part of it is all Caroline.  Her favorite part of schools is making new friends and baking a pretend cake in the kitchen.  She is still very particular about which potty she uses (who amongst us isn't) but has taken to school like a duck to water.  I couldn't be more proud of her and happy for her, even if it hurts her Daddy just a little.   When we dropped them off for school earlier this week only 1 of the 4 of us were crying, I will let you take a wild guess which one that was.