A New Skirt for Hazel's First Day of School

Since September is National Sewing Month, I have been doing a lot of sewing. Ok, maybe not because it is National Sewing Month, but they are happening at the same time. Hazel started school last week. Since she has been very anxious about starting at a new school, I thought I would make her something special to wear the first day. I had this beautiful pink little girl fabric that I had bought ages ago to make something for her. It has wonderful little sayings like "Mommy's Little Helper" and "Fairy Princess in Training" on it as well as pictures of girls playing. I used a simple pattern that I have used before. I found it in Little Girls, Big Style by Mary Abreu. I also let her wear my gold cross that I wear every day. My grandparents brought it back from Jerusalem when they visited the Holy Lands. 

Now I figured if the skirt made her this happy just trying it on, it had to work for the first day.

And she had a great first day. She was brave and her teacher was wonderful with her. She went in and had a great day. Then we went to the bookstore and did our first day tradition of letting her pick a book. Although I was not thrilled with her selection, she did choose a cheaper one, so I bought her a few.

Ready to go

The novelty of the Minnie Mouse backpack and lunch box ran out after the first day. The second morning she cried and screamed for an hour and a half, but then once I got her there had a great day. This morning it was only 20 minutes of crying with some great "reasons" to stay home--"I'm too young for school" and "I'm too tired today." However after school she thanked me for making her go. She had another good day. Hopefully it will get better each day.

What are your strategies and traditions for the first day of school?