The difference...

Today was Kindergarten registration. We have a tradition that with the first experiences with school (registration, school shopping, first day of...) I get a babysitter for the other kid(s) so that all my attention is free for the one who is dealing with something new and sometimes a little scary.  So we dropped Lila off to play with Grandma T. and Evie and I went out to lunch first. She was so cute and excited as she always is to get to have "Special Girl Time" with her mom. It made me laugh that she could not remember the word Kindergarten, she kept calling it "senior 5 class". But by the time we got to the school I could tell that she was getting nervous.

I was reflecting as I sat in the school library how different it was from the first time we registered a child for school. The paper work is still the same, endless forms to fill out, medical signatures required, 18 different documents to prove residency in the school district. But last time I was a nervous wreck, we'd only been in our house for a month and a half so we didn't have the required bills to prove that we lived here, our licences still had the old address, and I was so worried that I was going to fill out a form wrong and it would be somehow detrimental to my child's educational opportunities until he graduated from high school. Plus I didn't  really know any of my neighbors very well, didn't have a friend I could turn to for advice. I sat through the orientation with Jacob feeling as insecure as if it was my first day of Kindergarten again.

Today was so much nicer. I've learned to relax about all of it. Getting proof of residency was as easy as pulling last months utilities and mortgage bills. My ID has the correct address. I know that even if I screw up on filling out a form, chances are they will have another copy so I can try again. And the best part, both Evie and I had friends to sit with, which makes all the difference in the world.