Kindergarten

I have neglected this blog with traveling and working on the house.  And it often seems redundant since most people who read it are on facebook.  But it is what we have of a record so I will try to be better.  And one thing I want to record is the milestone of Nicholas starting kindergarten!

From 2014 August

He was very excited about starting kindergarten and if you asked him he was just excited, not nervous at all.  But there were a few signs that he was a little nervous.  In particular, he brought up multiple times a plan he had for finding his classroom.  I was supposed to make a sign and mail it to the teacher for her to post on the classroom door.  Pretty simple, but it clearly mattered to him.  We didn't end up doing it because there was a second day of orientation the day before school started and that seemed to reassure him.

He got a great letter from his teacher that was waiting for us when we got back from our epic vacation and Nicholas read the whole thing (an entire typed page!) beautifully as we watched in awe, only struggling with the word "brothers" and the name of an author of a book his teacher recommended.  He was so excited and proud to have gotten a letter from his teacher!

Orientation went well and he wasn't clingy or anything and did a great job.  Elizabeth, on the other hand, was very upset that she wasn't allowed to go with the big kids or explore his classroom.  I want to be a big kid too!!!  (On a side note, she is going to really struggle with not being allowed to start kindergarten until she is 5 3/4 due to the November birthday.  We are going to need to explore options for different preschool programs for her last year I think.)  Orientation was also good for me because we got a lot more information.  Because Nicholas has been going to "school" since he was 8 months old I had figured this wasn't going to be a big transition but as school got closer I realized just how much we didn't know.  In daycare/preschool you were given so much information and I feel like there was a lot less we needed to know because they took care of everything.  Also, you talked to the teachers every day at pick up and drop off and so there was never a shortage of communication. But it was the day before school started and we didn't know basic things like options for buying/bringing lunch and restrictions on what could be brought.

The first day arrived and it was a little crazy because the people who were trimming our trees arrived earlier than expected and so were working while we were all getting ready.  But we all walked Nicholas to the bus stop (including Grandpa, who was in town for the week working on projects around the house).

From 2014 August

We had practiced this walk the day before since grades 1-12 started a day earlier, so we felt confident we knew where the stop was and when the bus would arrive.  We had even met the bus driver.

We got there early and chatted with the other family until the bus pulled up. 

From 2014 August

And as the doors opened you could see Nicholas' expression change.  Suddenly this was real.  He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.  But I pushed him towards the door gently and he went.  If there had been more time to think he might have had trouble, but I was so proud of him for not getting clingy or melting down.  He was clearly nervous but he went.  All by himself.

From 2014 August

I was a little on edge for the first couple hours, imagining what he was doing and having trouble with not being there.  I think the transition was harder on me after him being out of school for almost 3 weeks--I had gotten used to being there every minute.  But then I relaxed.

I picked him up from the aftercare early since I figured he had had a long, tiring day.  I was home with Elizabeth anyway so there was no need for him to stay but I wanted him to go for a little bit to establish the routine.  He came running towards me and then immediately threw a fit because they were about to go outside and he wanted to go outside.  And he was clearly super exhausted.  But once we left the building he clicked back and was so happy to tell me about his day.

And the first thing he told me?  That the bus took him to the wrong school!  Apparently his bus has kids for his school as well as a new elementary school that is basically down the street.  This new elementary only has kindergarteners this year (hence why they are sharing a bus) and there was some miscommunication where the bus driver thought all the kindergarteners went to that school this year.  And so when they got to Nicholas' school she told the kindergarteners to stay seated while the bigger kids got off.  And when Nicholas tried to get off she told him to sit back down.  "But, Mommy, I told her this was my school and I go here and she said, 'Nope.'"  So he was forced to go to the other school and get off there.  When he got there one of the teachers saw that his name tag said room 4 and luckily they don't have a room 4 at that school so they realized something was wrong.  And of course Nicholas explained the problem.  The kindergarteners all had nametags that first day so staff could help them get to the correct room.  But no one had thought to put school names on them.  So he and one other boy from his bus sat in the office while they "got another bus" (the entire story came from Nicholas, so I don't know if they called for a bus or just had the next one that arrived take them) to take them back to the right school.

They made it to school before class started but his saga wasn't over because he had apparently left his backpack on the bus!  I don't know which bus it was or when he noticed it but I can just picture his face when he realized that he didn't have it.  That is when I really wish I could have been there for him.  But somehow (and, again, I don't know details because I only have the story from Nicholas) they got him a cafeteria lunch since his backpack wasn't there with his lunch and his backpack was delivered back to him at some point during the day.

Moral of the story: kindergarten means I have way less information and control over what happens and he has to be so much more responsible.  But he has handled it all really well.  I guess this is how he grows up and doesn't need me there anymore.  These are the things he will really learn this year, I think.  He knows how to read and write but he doesn't yet know how to be a big kid.  And, truly, I don't know how to let him be.

He told these stories as funny stories that afternoon but at bedtime he said to me matter-of-factly, "Sorry, but I'm not taking the bus again until next year."  As we talked about it one tear ran down his cheek.  I made him a nametag for the next day that included his school name, promised him it would be okay, and reassured him that I would climb up on the bus with him to talk to the bus driver.  And he did insist on holding my hand climbing the stairs.  When the driver opened the doors, she apologized very first thing and reassured Nicholas that she knew his school.  And everything seems to have gone smoothly.  This morning when the bus arrived Nicholas looked at me with panic and tried to grab my hand to go up the stairs with him.  I pushed him gently up and said loudly enough for the driver to hear that she knew which school he went to and that it would be okay.  She took the cue and reassured him as he walked up.  He was clearly nervous after the 3-day weekend, but he went.  I can't wait to hear about his day when he gets home.

From 2014 August