School Update

       We are now on our eighth day of kindergarten and ninth of second grade and it is going better than I ever could have imagined.  I knew Little Man would be fine within a couple of days, but he was fine from that first day.  When he came home that first day, he said, "After you guys dropped me off I didn't think about you ALL day I was having so much fun."  I have never been so happy to not be thought of.  Of course some of the newness is starting to wear off, but he still comes home excited every afternoon about something new he learned or did.  His favorite is recess, of course, and his "hardest" part of the day according to him is carpet time.  "I've already done calendar for THREE years!"  he told me.  

      Kiwi has absolutely amazed me.  We have been worried about her going to kindergarten for months and she has blown all of our expectations out of the water.   We knew that she would be fine academically, but were anticipating the same experience we've had when she's started other new activities away from her mom; anxiousness, meltdowns, resistance.  She was nervous that first day and there was some clinging to my leg, but when it was time to line up, she got on the wall and bravely went in (I held it together until Mason and I were in the van and then bawled like a baby all the way home, called my sister and cried some more, but that was to be expected).

        Since that first day, she has loved it.  She loves riding the bus, carpet time, stories, coloring pictures, sounding out words, and she loves, loves the fact that they are working on a Brown Bear Book.  Each day is a new color and they are supposed to wear corresponding clothes.  We lay out her clothes the night before and she has so much fun picking out clothes of the next days color. Today she told me that she and Maddie were talking on the bus about how Maddie hopes that pink day will be cold because she only has a long sleeved pink shirt.  And the thought of my little shy girl sitting on a school bus talking to a girl named Maddy about what they were going to wear to pink day made my afternoon.

        The half day is a perfect fit for her and although I would prefer mornings, afternoons are great for my girl.   She has all morning long to hang out with Mom and Mason, then we eat lunch, and she gets on the bus just before Mason's nap.  And although watching her wave out of that big yellow bus gets me a little sentimental, I am so happy that she is happy.  And the almost two and a half hours of a sleeping toddler and two kids at school?  Not bad at all.  I'm enjoying the quiet until January comes...or until Mason gives up naps, which better not come first.

        Below is Kiwi on her first day of school by herself.  

 Yes, Mason is wearing slippers.  They are his favorite and I have given up at that battle.  As long as it's not church and we will not be somewhere that it's wet, he's pretty much wearing his slippers these days.  He does take them off and put them in the shoe bin when we get home, so they are really just super comfy shoes.  

      Below are some photos from our annual back to school dinner.  It's nothing fancy or elaborate, but the kids have fun and look forward to it.  They each made their own crown, we had a centerpiece made of children's books and school supplies and the menu consisted of breakfast food request of the starting school children.  We had a parfait bar with yogurt, granola, and fruit, scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls.