Look Out, Kindergarten!

Last Tuesday was Caleb’s kindergarten orientation.  He wasn’t really sure what to think about it at first and got a little teary and clingy when we got ready to leave his classroom for the parent meeting.  His teacher said that by the time we got to the cafeteria, he was doing just fine.  He stayed in his classroom to meet all of his classmates and his teacher, Mrs. Christian.  We were excited to find out that one of his friends from daycare, Stephen, is in his class this year.  (Yay for familiar faces!) Caleb will go to Reagan, where I work, for kindergarten.  I’m excited about that because it means that we’ll be together for this transition.  He’s in a place where I know he’s safe and loved and I’ll get to see him from time-to-time during the day. 

At the end of orientation, I was in the library helping out with the self-contained students who just happened to be touring the building with Caleb’s class.  I was so blessed to be in the room at that time.  The media specialist asked the kids to say their name and their favorite thing in the world.  Caleb told his name and then said, “this school.”  I about melted into the floor.  It was just so sweet.  After orientation, we took him out to dinner to celebrate!

Last night, our bedtime stories were all about school.  The last one we read was The Kissing Hand – a beautiful story about a young raccoon going to school for the first time.  His mother kisses his hand to ease his fears about being scared and lonely.  At the end, Caleb kissed mine and Rudy’s hands and we kissed his back.  It was one of the best moments I’ve ever experienced.

This morning, Caleb had our special day pancakes (we put sprinkles on them). 

Once we were all ready to go, we took a few pictures to help us remember the big day!

We dropped Nola off at daycare and when we got back in the car, Caleb said, “Look out, kindergarten, here I come!”  I nearly spit my drink all over the windshield.

When we got to school a little before 7:15, there was already a crowd at the front door.  We went in and put my bags in my room, then went back out front for a few more pictures.  The doors were unlocked, so I was able to get some pictures without all of the extra people in them.  Caleb was surprisingly patient with me while I took them.)

 

After our pictures, we were ready to go to class.  I know this picture below is fuzzy, but I couldn’t pass it up.  Walking to kindergarten with that “imagine” sign…come on – too perfect.

Caleb was excited to get to his classroom, hang up his backpack and find Stephen.  He immediately went to the table where Stephen was playing with Legos and started playing.  I snapped one quick picture of them and then one of Caleb and Mrs. Christian.

I was really fortunate to be able to see Caleb a lot today.  I spent my day helping with the five new kindergarten students in the self-contained classroom.  It just so happened that they had music and PE with Mrs. Christian’s class, so I got to be with Caleb in those classes as well.  I made sure to keep my distance and didn’t let him distract me from my purpose there, but there was no reason to pretend I didn’t know him either.  He enjoyed dancing in PE and singing in music.  He leaned over to me in music class with a big grin on his face and said, “I am having so much fun!”  I also had kindergarten recess duty, so I was outside for that too.  I loved watching his face in the cafeteria when he discovered that Rudy had drawn a smiley face on his napkin. You would’ve thought he’d won the lottery!

At the end of the day, Caleb hung out in my room watching PBS kids and having a snack while I wrapped up my work for the day.  We came home and had spaghetti for supper and then hung out outside for a while.  I had to go to Target to buy Caleb a new lunchbox because the handle on his already broke. 

After school, we called LaLa to tell her about his day and this evening we called Grandma.  Caleb was bewildered about why everyone wanted to talk to him today.  I told him it was a very special day when a kiddo starts school.

I asked Caleb his favorite part of the day and he said, “Mrs. Christian.”  Rudy asked him later and he said, “recess.”  I think both of those are perfectly good answers for the first day of kindergarten.