hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to middle school we go!

Kaitlyn started middle school yesterday.  It's hard to believe that my baby girl is in 6th grade!!  She has been so nervous about this.  She went for a tour of the middle school last year and said that there was a lot of pushing and shoving in the hallway.  So, her fear has been that she was going to be shoved into a locker. Well, the lockers are pretty small, so we have convinced her that that is not going to happen. :) 

Sunday night, she started crying because she was just straight up scared about going to school.  She said she didn't want to go, but couldn't tell me why she didn't want to go.  The only thing I could get out of her is because it's a new location.  When we said our prayers that night, I started crying before I even started praying.  She finally went to sleep around 10:30 or so.  Yesterday morning, she was pretty nervous but didn't cry.  I prayed with her again before we pulled into the school, and now that I look back on it, that may have been the breaking point.  She started crying as soon as I got to the drop off point.

She opened her door to get out and the tears came.  She said she didn't want to go, but she dried up her tears and went on in.  I, however, cried all the way to work.  I sent her several text messages throughout the day so that she would see them when she turned on her phone at the end of the day.  I just wanted her to know that I had been thinking about her.  I was a nervous wreck.  But, at the end of the day, I get this text, "it was so cool." That's it.  No other details. Nothing.  I couldn't wait to get home to hear about it.

She liked her teachers.  She said they were all funny.  Her art teacher is pretty strict.  He has two rules.  Rule #1 - he's always right.  Rule #2 - always remember rule #1.  One teacher loves dogs.  Another teacher has 3 kids and another loves blue.  She said they have nasty ranch dressing but they serve sweet tea there.  She's going to have to keep ranch dressing in her locker (she loves it!) but hopefully the sweet tea will make up for the nasty dressing!  She also has one friend, Alasya, that is in almost every class with her.  Alasya did not have her schedule with her yesterday, so she got lost a bunch.  Kaitlyn said she finally ended up taking Alasya with her so she would quit getting lost.

We decided to go to Huddle House to eat supper last night, and I went into her room to get her, and she was laying in her bed crying.  I asked her what was wrong and she said that she didn't want to go back.  I asked her why and she said a couple of kids had picked on her.  Apparently some older kids made chicken noises at her in the lunch room and some 8th graders asked her why she was wearing rain boots.  She wasn't wearing rain boots, but was wearing some knee high black boots.  I told her the same rules apply in middle school as they did in elementary school.  She is to stand up for herself.  If she gets in trouble, we will deal with it.  But if students pick on her, she needs to dish it right back.  If they know that she is not going to stand for it, they will leave her alone. 

I hope today is better for her.  She didn't eat breakfast this morning because she had butterflies.  But, she did wear her boots again. :)

First day of middle school, 8.20.12