Ash Wednesday

I have a goal this year: to put as much energy into Lent as I do into Advent.  I've pulled together some activities and craft ideas for the season and prepped Charlotte for Ash Wednesday services.  We'd all hoped to get up early (5:15 am) and go, but a late night and a not-sleeping Frederick caused us to throw in the towel on that one.  Frederick and I dropped off Charlotte and went to St. Michael's for Ash Wednesday Mass with the school kids.

For the first time since starting Charlotte at TCS, I wished she was  in a Catholic school.  What a beautiful way to be exposed to the Mass on a regular basis!  The students take roles usually reserved for adults - singing in the choir loft, saying the readings, taking the collection, and carrying down the gifts.  The beauty of this makes me smile, but yesterday reminded me of what I enjoyed most about these masses as a student: the words spoken directly to us, the children.  The priests at Sunday Masses always direct their homilies to the adults and rarely ever the children. How I wished Charlotte was there with me! I think, from now on, I will try to take the kids with me to school masses on Holy Days of Obligation, school day or not.  (Aside: Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation.)

Charlotte and Daddy went to an Ash Wednesday service early in the evening.  I managed to get her to sit still for 2.5 seconds so I could grab the photo above.  Love my little girl.  

First Day of Pre-K

Yesterday marked Charlotte's first day of Pre-K.  I can hardly believe it, though she is one of the youngest kids in her class.  Fingers crossed that she does well.  Otherwise I have no problems keeping her back for another year of Pre-K, or even moving her back to her old MDO class and trying again next year.

We packed up her bags and a special lunch box and hurried out the door Monday morning.  Late as usual.  But I think it was worth it to snag these photos before we parted.

I really love this one of Charlotte and her Daddy.

After I saw her cute uniformed self on her way to class with her classmates, the day seemed to drag on forever.  Who knew 2:30 could be so long after 8:30?  I've been dropping Charlotte off at "school" for years, and TCS is actually at the same church where she has attended MDO since she was two, so the drop off itself wasn't very monumental for me.  The pick-up line, however, blew my mind.  And made me feel old.  I was so happy to see her!

As I buckled her into the car I asked her if she'd had a good day. "Yes!" she said.  But then, crestfallen, she said, "But I didn't read a book."  I have been telling her that she was going to learn how to read in Pre-K; apparently she thought the knowledge would just fall on her instantly on the first day.  She was even more unhappy at home when she proudly asked me what a page filled with a bunch of letters she'd written said and I had to tell her that she hadn't actually written any actual words (except for PET, of course).  Oh the tears! I quickly found a couple of places where she'd accidentally created "jon" and "huh" and declared those words as well, but told her that it is going to take some time before she can read and write.  Poor girl!

Her new school is a Christian school (non-denominational) and they follow a basic catechism each morning at assembly.  We haven't used the term catechism around here before (though I certainly remember the little book we had my first year of Sunday school), and I thought she was going to share some new knowledge with me when she asked, "Mommy, do you know what a catechism is?"
To which I replied, "Tell me, Charlotte."
"It is a bug!  It turns into a butterfly!"
Sorry sweetheart, that is a caterpillar.  One day of pre-k and she's already confusing old knowledge with the new, though I'm sure she'll get it straightened out soon enough :-)

After pickup, we swung by Bottie's house to show off the new uniform and snagged these photos as well:

It was a busy, fun day, and today we had our first "home school" day.  It went well!  Charlotte had fun, anyway :-).