I just dropped Eleanor and Sarah off for their first day back at school. Eleanor is starting first grade, and Sarah is in fifth (her last year of elementary)! I don't think they look particularly thrilled in these pictures; they've been happy and nervous and sulky and anxious to go back. I guess those half smiles sum it up.

Eleanor alternately reached for my hand and then wriggled out of my grasp. She was pretty stiff as she got into line with the other first graders, and made a point of looking for me only when I wasn't obviously looking at her. I wasn't sure if she was embarrassed because she was adopted, or because I was mom and within five feet of her (totally understandable), or both. Or she was just nervous and didn't know what to do - probably the most likely scenario.

We had checked the school's posted class lists last night, and Eleanor had asked at least a dozen times (most of them this morning) what her new teacher's name is.
"It's Mrs. Deines, sweetie."
"Dinah?"
"No, Deines - it has an "ss" on the end."
"Oh. Mrs. Deines. Deines."
She would then walk around repeating it to herself as if she was trying to remember a phone number, and come back for verification 15 minutes later. Dave once replied, "Her name is Mrs. Deines, and it sounds like the first part of Dinosaur. But don't call her Mrs. Dinosaur." I couldn't help but laugh at that one - my husband probably wasn't the first kid to figure that particular joke out. Poor Mrs. Deines. Fortunately, Sarah's teacher has an incredibly easy name to remember, which I won't post here, since there aren't any good jokes to make out of it.

I did my motherly thing, and fussed until I was swatted away, and took pictures of my kids who said, "Is that the last one, Mom?"

And I bit my lip as I left, realizing that Genevieve was at preschool, and would be at kindergarten next year. There was a couple walking behind me as we left the school grounds, holding a tiny toddler, and remarking, "At least this one still has four more years before she goes!" I had to bite my lip even harder, and blink.