Today is Genevieve’s first day of kindergarten. Swiss kindergarten starts at age 4, instead of 5, so she’s starting school a year earlier than I had envisioned. In fact, when we planned our move to CH, we figured we could be here for two years and then move if we didn’t like it, and that way we’d be moving again before G started school.
That didn’t quite work out!
I’m going to do a whole post about my experience with Swiss kindergarten as an American parent… later. For today, I’m going to take a trip down memory lane with some of G’s other firsts. Some of these will be traditional firsts, but a lot of them are just going to be some of my personal favorite firsts.
And there will be a payoff at the end with her first day of kindergarten picture!
G’s first day of being born! This is one of the first pictures I have of her. I’m not sure who took this pic, though, as I for sure wasn’t standing up and snapping photos.
First time going to a wedding/wearing a DvF for Gap Kids wrap dress. Baby’s first designer clothes! I can’t get over how tiny she looks here.
Baby’s first shots.
Baby’s first day of daycare/my first day back to work after maternity leave.
Baby’s first food: Hummus from One World back in Peoria.
(If you ever find yourself in Peoria, be sure to head to One World and have some hummus. Or spinach artichoke dip. Or anything really. Now I want to go to One World.)
Baby’s first time in a swimming pool! (On our trip to Estes Park, CO.)
Baby’s first fashion shoot, ha! Photo credit: Tara Diver Photography.
Baby’s first tailgate! Go Mizzou!
Baby’s first trip to the orchard and pumpkin patch!
Baby’s first Halloween!
Baby’s first (completely ridiculous) Christmas card. We will probably never top this card.
Baby’s first Christmas.
Baby’s first cake.
Photo credit: Photography by Megan.
Baby’s first birthday party!
Baby’s first haircut. (Aunt Dannie had to clean up a little baby mullet that G had going on.)
Baby’s first bathrobe. (This may actually be her second bathrobe, but I die at how cute this picture is, so I’m including it anyway.)
First trip to the beach! (Also, this swimming suit was the GOAT.)
First time watching fireworks. July 4th, 2014.
First trip to the HOI Fair.
First big girl bed.
First time meeting a super hero. (At the Peoria Zoo.)
First soccer camp. (Through the Peoria Park District.)
First European selfie!
First kiddie cocktail! At Café des Art’s.
First Fasnacht parade.
(We’re looking forward to heading back to Kindermusik in a couple of weeks!)
First time going to Disneyland/first time meeting a princess.
First day of preschool. I thought she was so big when I took this picture!
And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for:
Look at this BIG KID!!
An American in Basel 
What a nice trip down memory lane. I’m sure G will enjoy seeing this when she’s older! 🙂
adorable photo’s. I hope Genevieve is enjoying her first few days of Kindergarten 🙂
Love all the pictures, especially the pumpkin!! Could she be any cuter?
She still wants to be an astronaut AND a Mom, good for her!
Can’t wait to hear about her first impressions of Kindergarten 🙂
Since you discover the Swiss education system I want to warn you about the next steps. To the contrary or the American one, as far as I know, the Swiss schooling is very much about learning facts and way less about learning to learn and learning to interact with others. Maybe good to reflect already about how to compensate for that. Enjoy though!
The American system is sadly going more and more toward “teaching to the test.” I like how Swiss kindergarten seems to be structured and not so focused on reading/writing (which G can actually already do). This is something to keep in mind, though, as she gets older. Thanks!
I’m not so sure that the Swiss system is different. When I see my children learning pages and pages of vocabulary and still not able to understand basic German after learning it for what? 5 years or so. I start feeling a bit annoyed.
That’s very disappointing to hear! 😦
Well this specific example might be a French speaking Switzerland issue. The level of German of the teachers is bad so it’s easier for them to have them munch on vocabulary pages than learn conversational skills. Not that I understand why we can’t import some Swiss Germans as language teachers. 😉
I hope her first week of kindergarten is going well. Such sweet pictures of her life up until her first day! Can you believe how time has flown by? My littlest starts kindergarten next week. Seriously. Now I’m inspired to make a little pictures of memory lane like this!
So many firsts, that must have been an emotional post to put together. Love love love the pumpkin photo shoot. We’re coming up on that time of year again! ❤