Madeline is home sick from her gymnastics camp today. While she is a little bummed to miss out, I am secretly happy to get an extra day with her. The start of the preschool year is just around the corner. It is just about time for us to pick cup a new pair of our favorite shoes (I always wait until the very last minute on this one after learning the hard way her first year when she hit a growth spurt the week before school started) and book our back to school hair cut.
Something about her starting the three’s class this year just feels so very grown up and it has me realizing that her time at home with us before real school starts in a couple years is very limited. Yet, as a former teacher, I do really love this time of school year and relish in all the fun preparations for a new school year.
She is pretty excited to get back with her friends and just asked this morning when we were going shopping to get her new shoes so I know she is ready. Aside from a few cute apple-themed outfits for that first week, we don’t really do a big back-to-school shopping spree since she is bound to cover her preschool clothes with dirt, sand, and paint. But, I do stock up on the basics each year.
We always purchase a new pair of converse sneakers and Keds for Madeline to wear to school. I love pairing both with the cute white ruffle socks pictured above. We buy numerous pairs of these each year and I love that she only has one type of socks so its easy for her to pick out matching ones by herself when she is getting dressed in the morning.
Since we are now too old for the adorable monogrammed bloomers, Madeline has swapped to monkey bar shorts under her dresses. I like to have multiple pairs of these to avoid any morning meltdowns that might happen if she were to want to wear a dress and be out of shorts to wear underneath. Its worth the extra $4 to make our mornings smoother.
For lunches, we use a bento box. This makes packing lunch each day so each for me because I just pick a different item for each compartment. I post these over on Instagram sometimes but I assure you they are not the sandwich cut into a Panda bear shape – type Bentos. She takes a spill-proof water bottle each day, too. These are available a couple times a year for the best price at Costco but I have ordered them in a pinch, too, to replace ones that have gotten lost or just gotten old.
Labeling everything is so important for preschool. I order a new set of washing machine – safe and dishwasher – safe labels each year to label all her clothes, jackets, sweaters, ballet items, and lunch and snack items. This makes it super easy to label everything and increases the likelihood of any lost items making their way back to us. I also just love the silicone water bottle labels. They fit sippy cups and bottles too.
It will be very nice to get back into a routine soon, but I am glad to have a few last weeks of summer to spend with my favorite girl. If you are getting your own preschooler ready for back to school, you can shop our favorites below.
I got the Bento box for e for this year and I wish she would do the converse, but she is so picky on shoes.