“Do you think we’re doing enough to make Sophie feel like it’s a special day?” Ray asked as he grabbed his stuff and headed out the door to work yesterday morning.

It was a good question. Ray wasn’t sticking around for The First Day of School. But he’d taken most of last week off to spend with the girls, so it wasn’t fair to nag him back into the house. And Annabelle had just refused to come along to drop her little sister off; she was sad (understatement) — she’s not going to this school any more, and her new school doesn’t start for two weeks. I figured she was more than entitled to a pout on the couch.

But that left just me, and usually there’s a lot more First Day hoopla than that.

We didn’t do much at all this year, come to think of it. My sister took the girls back to school shopping when she was here last week to help my mom with her hip and I had slipped back to work. After cleaning up over the weekend and realizing Sophie  already has a half dozen barely-touched backpacks, I skipped that trip to Target and told her to choose. (She chose her backpack from pre-school and I must say, it’s perfect.)

I didn’t bother with a new lunch box, either, after Sophie announced she would be buying her lunch at school this year.

Yesterday morning, as I scurried around to get ready in time to snap a couple photos in the front yard (can’t skip every tradition!) Sophie wandered in the kitchen and asked, “Where’s my lunch box?!”

I explained that I didn’t get her one (or anything to put in it) since she would be buying lunch.

“But I need it!” she said. “I need it so you can write me a note with stickers on it that says, “Good luck in third grade, Sophie! Love, Mommy and Daddy.”

Crap. How could I have forgotten that tradition, too? Just the other day, I was finally putting away the boxes labelled “Annabelle, Fourth Grade” and “Sophie, Second Grade” and found the cards I’d left in their lunches last year — carefully drawn with Sharpies, covered with sparkly star stickers.

“Oh, um, make sure you check your pencil box when you get to school!” I said, calling Annabelle in for a distraction as I tore the kitchen apart til I found an Olivia sticker and a purple marker.

Done.

Then Sophie realized Annabelle would not be coming along to school. She sobbed, Annabelle refused to budge, the clock ticked. I hadn’t showered.

“How about if Annabelle does your hair?” I asked, desperate.

First Day of School Miracle: The tears stopped, the big sister grabbed a hair brush, I jumped in the shower.

And that’s how Sophie came to wear a gigantic bow from the gift wrap cabinet in her hair to school yesterday. A bow I never would have allowed under ordinary circumstances, but which I had to admit looked pretty cute.

The drop off was blissfully uneventful (we’d spent extra time in Sophie’s new teacher’s room last week, getting acquainted, and I feel much better now that the classroom aide is in place) and I headed home to pick Annabelle up and take her to the mall.

On the way, I called my mom to tell her about Sophie and the card in the lunch box. So cute that she remembered that from a whole year ago! And then a voice came from the back seat, a warning that I better not be getting any stickers and Sharpies out for someone else’s first day of school.

“NO CARD,” Annabelle announced.

Fifth grade just might be a lot tougher than third.