There is so much happening right now and I hope I can get caught up on blogging about it all. For now, I must take a moment to write about a huge milestone in Evan's life (and ours, as his parents)...he started kindergarten this past Thursday!
As of right now, he has attended two full days and tomorrow morning he'll head back for his first full week.
Here is how his first day went:
It was a beautiful and cool late summer morning, so we decided we'd walk to school to enjoy the weather and to avoid needing to find a parking spot in what we assume is a busy parking lot at drop off time. We headed out extra early as well, since John and I would have to sign in at the front office to be allowed in the school to walk him to his classroom. Evan decided he wanted to ride his bike, so he rode while John and I walked.
As we were on our way, a whole group of kids riding bikes passed us on their way to the school. Evan was quite interested in them, and we ended up following them right up to the school. They were unloading and putting their bikes in the bike rack, so Evan went and found himself a spot on the rack to put his bike as well. Just like the bigger kids, he dismounted, parked his bike, and began to take his helmet off. Though he needed a little help with that last part. :)
Then we headed to the main entry, where there was a table with tissues and "hugs and kisses" (the Hershey's chocolate candy kind) for kindergarten parents. We went inside and got signed in and let Evan show us the way around to his classroom area. He had only been there a few times recently, but he seemed to remember the way. We were one of the first people to arrive, so Evan went and hung up his backpack by his hook with his name and waited.
Soon it started getting awfully crowded in that narrow hallway, as other kids were also lining up and hanging up their backpacks (and there were hooks on the opposite wall, behind me in the photo above). We wanted to stay until Evan walked into his classroom, so we dealt with the crowds. When his teacher opened up her door and told the kids to come on it and find their name on the tables, Evan was still being so brave. I could tell he was trying to process it all, because as other kids lined up by him and tried talking to him, he wasn't responding. Anyway, he did great right until he went into the room. We were looking from out in the hall, curious to see where his table was, but then he stopped and turned around as he started crying, and then he ran back out to us. Poor guy...so much to take in and that was the moment when he realized we were leaving him in this strange new place. Either way, his teacher came out and got him and brought him back in the room pretty quickly, and that was that. We headed off, so as not to drag out the goodbye and sadness any longer, and we walked home. John had to carry Evan's bike back, since I was coming to pick him up after school in the car. The walk back was in the bright sun, which felt terribly hot all of the sudden.
I think I handled myself pretty good. The hardest parts, where I felt tears welling up, were as we approached the school seeing him riding on his bike in front of us like such a grown up boy, and then as he ran back out to us crying as well. But I remained strong and didn't need to use the tissue I was given at the "kisses and hugs" table.
At the end of the school day, I arrived nearly 30 min early so I could go to the school office to load up his lunch money account, and then also in case it was crazy busy to park at pick up time. I waited anxiously outside his classroom door where they excused the kids, and the teacher let each kid go one-by-one as they found their "grown up" to be released to. Kid after kid was released, and yet still no Evan. Sadly, the last kid was at the door and it wasn't Evan and I got a pit in my stomach...a major let down if you will, given I was so excited to see his face see me and to hear about his day. I wasn't worried he was lost, as I realized where he likely was, but I was still let down. You see, we've signed him up for the after-school care program, and I had intended for him to start there tomorrow, so that I could pick him up the first two days of school. However, since he's registered for it, they had come and gotten him and taken him to the cafeteria (where they hold that program), so I had to go over there to pick him up. It wasn't quite the same as I had envisioned when I was waiting outside his classroom door, since he was sitting at a table with his back to me so I came up and tapped his shoulder. He was excited to see me, but not the same that I think he would have had if he had known I was about to get him. Oh well...I gave him a snack on our drive home and he told me about his day. How they toured the cafeteria to practice how to order lunch, and how they played outside 3 times, and how they learned the rules of the playground, etc. He seemed to have a good day. Though he told me that he may still be a little sad again the next morning, which according to John (who took him to school on day 2) he was. He cried as soon as other kids started arriving this time...but I think it was short-lived. I think we're going to have to soon start taking him to the line-up area and leaving even before the class doors are opened to get the goodbye part over with very quickly. Soon, though, I hope we can drop him off at the front door and he'll find his way to his class on his own too. They do have lots of staff to help kids find their way.
Anyway, it's going fairly well, but still we'll see how long the drop offs are rough. It took him several weeks/months at pre-K, but I hope this will get better more quickly since he's older and already been through this from pre-K.
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