Can you believe that picture? 1st Day of Kindergarten?? So insane. Just this past week I was cleaning out a closet and found his first birthday pictures from Portrait Innovations, and I started bawling. I still remember getting those photos taken...I remember everyone commenting on what a smiley baby he was. How did we already get to having a school aged child?!?!? Ugh, there go the tears again.
So, on August 1, we hit that milestone...first day of kindergarten. Gavin goes to a year round school, which is why he started so early. I'm so excited about this schedule. I love all the added breaks through the school year.
I, of course, couldn't sleep the night before, so I was up at 11 packing his lunch and getting things ready. Daddy stayed home from work that morning, and after a special breakfast of biscuits and sausage (Gav's pick) we got ready and headed off to school. I was feeling optimistic that we wouldn't have tears!
As soon as we pulled in and saw another child getting their picture taken by the school sign, I knew we had to do the same. I remember getting my picture taken by the Kilgour sign each year. A fun little tradition to continue on...
We were there before they were allowing us to walk down to the classroom, as were a TON of people, so we waited in the crowded lunchroom for a little while. Gavin got to see Uma, his friend from preschool, and we snapped a few pictures.
Then, it was time to head down. You can tell by the look on his face that he was a little unsure of things. He carefully put his things away and started on the work that was on his table.
And then, the tears started from some of his classmates. Jarrod tried distracting a little girl at Gavin's table when she started crying as her mom left by talking about what was in their lunchboxes, and I headed over to ask Mrs. R a question. The next thing I knew, I turned around and Jarrod was comforting Gavin as he cried. We almost made it...
I knew we had to break away soon. I knelt down and hug Gavin, kissed his cheek and his hand (from The Kissing Hand) and told him he'd have a great day and to be brave. I had to quickly turn around to exit as the tears came to my eyes. I couldn't let him see me cry.
Jarrod and I quickly made our way out of the room and ran into Miss Ashley in the hall. She put her arm around me and comforted me, too, as we headed to the car. It was a blessing in disguise that the pediatrician screwed up Riley's appointment earlier that week. There was no time to be sad...I had to get my big girl to her well check.
After her appointment, we ran into Barnes and Noble for some new books to surprise Brother with, and headed home to make cookies. New back to school tradition!
The car line was a shocking experience. Until the traditional schools start, the year round school doesn't have full bus service, so there are a lot of added cars in line to pick up kids. It was taking me about an hour to get through the line and pick up Gavin. But seeing his smile as he ran up to me is worth the wait. I love seeing him every afternoon. I know someday, he won't run to me so happily...so I'm cherishing those moments. I'm SO thankful that I get to stay home with the kids now. Never ever thought it would be an option for us, but I'm so grateful that we make it work.
Three week update: According to him, it's not quite what he was expecting, i.e. not as fun. :) He was expecting a lot more play time, but sadly, kindergarten isn't about play time anymore. He has a couple challenging students in his class, so we often hear stories about how he's had to deal with them through the day, but we're working on getting him to stand up for himself some more. We're dealing with him coming home both exhausted and wanting to burn off energy. It's a confusing time for him...he wants to play play play, but he's so tired that we have lots of meltdowns right now. We make sure he naps on the weekends to help make up for the long week. His teacher is really sweet - she had him pegged from day one. She told me early on that she could tell he was a schedule-kid, and had to follow the rules. I park and walk him into school two days a week. The school wants us to utilize the drop off line, which I completely understand, but he really wants me to walk him in and there are usually tears on the days that I just pull into the drop off line. So, two days a week was our compromise, and I have to admit, those two days are my favorite, too. I love watching him walk down the hall. His favorite part so far is music class, which surprised me. He has two recesses a day, and he loves finding Uma on the playground to play with her. {She's not in his class.} I signed up to be one of the homeroom moms, and when I went in to meet with his teacher about a week and a half ago, she showed me one of his writings he did during Writer's Workshop and it just made my heart smile. I was so proud of him. I can't wait to see how far he comes this year.
Here's to a great year!
{Can you spot him? Hint: He's the small one!}
