First Day of Kindergarten!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Eric's first day of Kindergarten. As apprehensive as he had been about preschool, getting dressed on a daily basis, joining society....Eric was really excited about Kindergarten. And very excited about riding the bus. Ryan had refused to ride the bus in Kindergarten, so I wasn't quite sure how serious Eric was until we changed things on him at the last second.

On Tuesday we had the Meet the Teacher bar-b-que at school. Just before leaving for the bar-b-que I had a talk with my boss about her desire for me to work on Friday afternoons. Which was not going to be possible with Eric getting out of school at 11:00 each day. I suddenly had a brainstorm and during the Meet the Teacher event asked for Eric to be switched to the afternoon session. Which they actually did for me. Our principal has a reputation for NOT switching classes and the fact that he was so willing to do this for us was a true blessing. For everyone but Eric. In switching sessions, I had to agree to drive Eric to school each day since there would be no transportation for him. He was welcome to take the bus home, just not on the way to school. I heartily agreed to this arrangement, much to Eric's chagrin. He was furious with me, to say the least. The fact that he was still able to ride the bus once a day was little consolation.

Eric's classroom

All of that melted away when I actually took Eric to school. This kid was ready. He wore his brand new fall school outfit, that was much too warm for the weather, and was ready to begin his career at Briarwood Elementary.

Eric's table
Eric immediately found
his nametag and got down
to work.

He walked into the room, found his table, and began his very first school project--coloring a teddy bead picture. No tears. No clinging. None of the whining I get each Sunday when I drop him off at Sunday School in a room full of his good friends.

I milled around for a couple of minutes and then asked him if he wanted me to stay or if he was ready for me to go. "You can go". And I was one of the first moms to leave.

And when I picked him up at the bus stop later that afternoon, you have never seen such a wide beaming smile. Apparently Eric had the most euphoric bus ride ever. He made two friends, but he doesn't know their names, and Mrs. Martinell read stories. This morning Eric was up and dressed by 7:15, for his 11:42 start time. Eric has never been dressed this early for anything in his life. And what did I do during Eric's first day of school? Went next door to Shirley's and had a Mike's Hard Lemonade while we toasted the first day of school.

Ryan's lunch gang
Scott, Pedro, Zach, Dylan,
and Ryan in the orange shirt.

The funny part of bringing Eric to school in the middle of the day is running into Ryan. We discovered that we're showing up during his lunchtime. He was sitting at the table with his best buddies, who all started to make faces at me when they saw me with the camera. As only 3rd grade boys can do.

This morning when I was making Ryan's lunch I noticed that he failed to eat his sandwich yesterday. Didn't even try to hide the evidence. When I asked him about it he told me he couldn't find his sandwich. ??? Ever the hapless victim, Ryan certainly cannot be held responsible for unreasonable tasks, such as keep track of and eating his lunch.

I did enjoy the look of horror on his face when I reminded him that I'm now at school each day at lunchtime and I can always check up on him to make sure he is eating his healthy food. And that I'll have to stop giving him dessert if he can't remember to eat that healthy food first. He didn't like that one bit. No sir. This is really going to suck having mom around each day. Didn't count on that one at all.

I'm now trying to think of how to organize my day. If I clean in the morning, the time between 12 and 3 can be mine. All mine. I can run errands. Alone. By myself. Browse. Linger. Go to that one extra store. Or I can knit. Uninterrupted knitting. Guilt free knitting. I could even read. And concentrate on my book. The possibilities are endless, really.