School starts at 8am, a full hour before we are used to for pre-school, so there was some concern about John getting in gear on time. (Christopher is usually up by 6:30, no worries about Mommy and Daddy oversleeping!) Anyway, I opted to go extra late (leaving the house at 7:50, the school is 4 minutes from our house w/o traffic), instead of trying to join the rush of overeager, overanxious families who get there at 7:45.
The herd had definitely thinned out by the time we got there, but I did have to pull up on the grass to park so I could walk John in. However, were were in the building when the tardy bell rang. ["Tardy bell," those two words have not entered my consciousness together since high school!]
We fast walked to his classroom, and the teacher's assistant took custody (grabbed his arm at my instruction), while Christopher and I fled. I think I said "I love you have a great day see you soon," but I may have imagined it. I did not wait around to see if tears started, and when I asked John after school if he cried, he said he didn't remember. I score that under the success column!
When he got home (riding the school bus!), I baked refrigerated cookies and grilled him about whatever I could think of.
Did they sing songs? No.
Did they play outside? Yes.
Did they go to the gym? Yes.
Did they say the alphabet? No.
Did you learn any rules? Yes.
What are they? There were three. The first one was "No running" and he couldn't remember the other two.
He did volunteer quite a lot of interesting info.
There was a boy in his class named Christopher.
His friend Alex from preschool found him at recess, and John said that there was a monster in a nearby vent and so they ran away.
In gym they "galloped, skipped, ran, and walked" over and over in a square on blue lines on the floor.
The afternoon snack was fruit rollup.
You can only buy OR take your lunch, not a combination of both. He bought a grilled cheese sandwich (a favorite), peaches, and chocolate milk.
He did not have a good time today but he thinks he will like school.
Whew. I am relieved that milestone is in our rear-view mirror now. Which is how I usually feel about life's "Hallmark moments."
Christopher also moved up today, into the toddler room. He only has 5 other kids with him, down from 9 or 10 in the creepers. He seemed to be fine when I picked him up, but I didn't think to grill him.
Here are some pictures. These are the only ones I took.
Here are the boys eating their special "first day of school microwave frozen breakfast sandwiches." Jack Sprat (John) eats the egg, cheese, and croissant, and Mrs. Sprat (Christopher) eats the sausage only. It's a beautiful relationship.
Here is the money shot of John walking to school. About 5 seconds later, he said, "I'm tired of walking." Mostly because we were racing to get into the building by 8am, and because of his 10-pound backpack.
The last two are of Christopher and I eating our free Chicken with Egg and Cheese on a Sunflower Multigrain bagel at Chik-fil-a. It was too early to drop him off at school after I dropped off John.
9 comments:
Of course he is wearing his yellow, Lightning McQueen Jedi shirt (because it has a hood).
HOORAY!! Sounds like it was a successful day for everyone involved!
and you DID do a fantastic job capturing the moment. :)
now...how was the 2nd day???
We're only 3 hours into the second day and no one has called from either school,so we're batting a thousand!
Christopher's drop off was rough this morning. Tony dropped off John and said it went well.
Several steps in to our thousand mile journey. Yay!
Oh, also, Tony said the tardy bell (actually kind of a high pitched tone) rang just after he had stepped out of the classroom. So we are making improvements!
We can walk John in for the rest of this week, and then next week he has to be dropped off. We are planning to carpool with Henry, so that should also help. (It will just be much, much louder in the car. Much louder.)
Fantastic!
We only were allowed 2 days to walk Naomi all the way to her classroom. On day 3, she was all on her own (with teachers/aids stationed along the way to help!).
That was actually a huge moment for me -- it was a really cool feeling to watch her head off by herself into the building, getting swept up with all the other bigger kids. I still enjoy it, even 2 weeks later! AND I'm still grilling her every day after school for details! It's interesting to hear what things they remember and seem to think were important! :)
Yay - such a big boy now! :-)
You did do a great job of capturing the moment, except there was no mention of if you cried after you dropped John off. I imagine not since going to school was so late in the fall, but you never know!
Hooray for team Penna!
I did not cry. I felt a little off when I went to the gym afterward, since I was only carrying my bag and not a kid by the hand... There was a "boo hoo breakfast" for the parents of kindergartners, which I scorned as silly and indulgent. I would have cried if I went, sort of like the tears I cry at Hallmark commercials: soppy during, and forced and resentful afterward.
Well done, Team Penna. So what's the verdict now that the first week is done. Does John like it now?
What do kindergarteners carry in their backpacks that make them so heavy? I can't remember that far back...
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