expiration date 

yes, big milestone for us. for aina and for me!

the preparation came many many weeks prior to this day. she’s using the schoolbag she got from Naia’s birthday present. we made sure that she had the utensils (spoon, fork and chopsticks) and water bottle… a few days before the school started, Jessi brought her a gift of Mei & Totoro water bottle. it is now her new favorite.

for uniforms, i’m also trying to figure out how to do the laundry the most effective way. after a few days of tinkering, i figured out how to wash and clean her uniform without ironing. i hate ironing, and have managed to do NO IRONING for the past 19 years… and i wasn’t planning to start again.

so, other than uniforms and all physical preparations, there were mental preparations to be done, too.

last year, she refused to go to school because she said she’ll miss me and didn’t want to be separated from me at all. so we waited for another year. then, starting 6 months ago, aina decided that she wanted to go to school and said that she’ll be okay without me and snowy around. yay!

but a week before school started, she got cold feet and told me that she’s worried she’ll miss me and snowy during class. she even cried quietly when she told me about it. after a long discussion, aina and i agreed that if she has photos of me and snowy in her bag, she can take a look at them and they will make her feel better when she’s missing us. so, we printed 5 of her favorite pictures of us and put them in her bag.

we also exchanged and stored each other’s kisses. i gave her about 20-30 kisses and put it in her bag, and she gave me hers too. supposedly, when she misses me, she’ll take one kiss (she calls it heart, because she thinks kisses are shaped like hearts) out of her bag and puts it on her lips.

so sweet :)

after all these, aina felt very ready to go to school. there were kids crying left and right on the gate, but she didn’t seem to mind. she even walked to the gate by herself.

when i picked her up from school for the first time, she immediately ran to me, held my hand and rubbed her cheek onto the back of my hand. this means she misses me and needs cuddling. and me? i missed her terribly! i almost never away from her… and it feels weird being at home without her around. yes, i miss her soooooo much! maybe i was too busy preparing aina, i forgot that i would need preparations too…

so, when she rubbed her cheek to the back of my hand, i immediately lifted and carried her out.. showering her with lots of hugs and kisses. hehehe.

aina was very excited about going to school. she loooooves the school. so for the next 2 hours, she didn’t stop talking and told me stories of what happened while we weren’t together. everything, to the smallest detail (like the-color-of-the-string-that-was-attached-to-the-doll-that-hangs-on-the-wall kinda detail). she told me all that while she’s sitting on my lap, so we can keep hugging… :)