It feels like Christmas Eve in the Riley house tonight. Even though it’s August, the anticipatory energy is in the air, and the adrenaline rushing through our bodies is palpable. Or that could just be me. Oh my goodness, y’all! Ayva starts kindergarten tomorrow! I am incredibly excited, but at the same time I’m freaking out a little bit. My chubby little baby is a big girl now, and in the morning, she’ll be off on a new adventure, independent of me, and it’s going to take some getting used to, let me tell you! Ayva is amazing, though, so I’m sure she’ll adjust really quickly and love grade school just as much as she did preschool.

Read How Not To Freak Out About Kindergarten

It is different, though, really different. The expectations are higher, and the boundaries are much more defined than they were at her old play school. Ayva’s school is doing a fantastic job of easing the children into grade school by doing everything from not requiring them to wear their school uniform on the first day, to making the first couple of week half days. Terrence and I have been doing our part by talking to her about what she can expect, and we’ll work to create new routines to make the transition not only easy for Ayva, but fun. One of the ways that we are doing that is by reading stories about kindergarten to her. Tonight, when she goes to bed, I plan to pull out “The Night Before Kindergarten” to surprise her before she goes to sleep. If you’d like to prepare your little one for kindergarten, too, here 5 fun books that’ll help you out!

 5 Great Books For Kids Starting Kindergarten

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