Wednesday, August 05, 2015

First Day of Kindergarten and Fourth Grade

Who has a new red backpack and just bounded off the school bus with a giant smile?

This guy!

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That's right. Andrew started KINDERGARTEN today! He's been excited about it for weeks--he would wake up in the morning and put on his backpack before he walked out of his room. Today, the big day had finally arrived. We had everything ready to go last night, so all he had to do this morning was get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and get his picture made a few hundred times.

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His report when he tumbled off the bus? "Mommy, it was AWESOME!"

Seriously, this day could have been such a mess, and yet, somehow it went so incredibly smoothly that I'm pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. We are not people who have easy-peasy smooth mornings as a general rule. We are usually running around with our hair on fire, with me barking out orders left and right and people losing shoes that they just had a second ago.

Yet, everyone got up on time, got dressed, didn't spill breakfast all over their new clothes, and didn't leave anything important behind. Both boys smiled for the camera and didn't pitch a fit. We got to school early. Not even just on time--EARLY. Crazytown. I know. Here, seriously, pinch me. I'm still not convinced.

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We took William to his new fourth-grade classroom first. On the way, he saw the librarian and told her that he's reading the first book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and she gave him a high five. Then we pushed our way through the crowded hallways all the way to the very back of the school to find his classroom, which seemed so grown-up, somehow. The big desks, the smart board, the computers at the back of the room.  I mean, I guess by fourth grade, you're expected to do some serious learning. As he sat down at his new desk, it really hit me that he's one of the big kids in the school now. Because I'm a nervous nelly, I reminded him one last time to make sure that Andrew was on the school bus for the ride home. Trooper that he is, William reassured me (for the one hundredth time) that he would.

By contrast to the Serious Fourth Grade Classroom, Andrew's kindergarten classroom has a giant tent set up around the reading center, and it's bursting to the seams with learning games. He was delighted by the number line on his new desk and perhaps even more delighted by the special first-day-of-school snack of Lucky Charms that his teacher provided. He was so ready to dive right in. He found a couple of his new buddies on the mat and joined them, and you could see that he had already switched over into "I'm at school now" mode. I went over and gave him a hug and kiss goodbye, and he was happy to oblige, but then he joined his classmates again and that was it. I've always joked about how William was all smiles and "see you later, Mom!" on the first day of kindergarten, and well, Andrew was pretty much the same way. No tears, no hesitating, no problem.

What a relief!

Edited to add: Andrew announced tonight, "I'm now an official infinity percent kindergartner!" Yes, sweet boy, you are.

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