First off, this post has the potential to be super long, but I am wearing down. Today has to be the longest day while R is gone. The time has finally arrived for B’s first day in Kindergarten. The good news for him is that K class is only 3 hours. The bad news is he has to spend the rest of the day at the on-site day care. I am starting to see the subtle/not-so-subtle differences of private vs. public schools. We got ready with the normal routine and set off to drop both kids off. P was first this time as I needed to have B by myself when I dropped him off at his school. After dropping her off, I would learn for the first time what route not to take to get to his school. Although this route will change by next week. It took a bit longer as we hit local streets with traffic from other school dropoffs. We still made it with about 15-20min to spare before the first bell. I walked around with him first to go talk to the daycare to say hi and to make sure he would have help getting him there after his class was over. The normal routine will be dropping him off at the daycare and later they would walk him to class. However, today I stayed to guide him to his class and to see what everything was like. We were told to have B play in the playground before the first bell, at which point they would pick up their bags and then line up with their teacher, who would walk them to the classroom. B was happy to play around in the playground, but when the bell rang, he started to get apprehensive. He looked nervous and kept trying to make sure I was with him, as I was trying to urge him to get into line and follow the teacher. This didnt work out all too well, because I’m not certain that a whole lot of the parents showed up to learn about the first day procedure. We all managed to make it to the classroom, and everyone had to cram into the smallish classroom to watch their kids put their belongings in their designated cubby holes, and sit down on the “circle-time” (rectangular) rug. This was kinda awkward cause all the kids sat down and faced all the parents that were watching them. B was getting even more sad now, and was a bit clingy, only a little bit, but he hasn’t been this way for a few years. Not since he first started MA. I took some pics and as I was doing so, I really thought that this actually probably made all of the kids more nervous and that they probably wouldve all been fine had we not been around in the classroom to make a big fuss of the day. I definitely felt the importance of the day but I realize that it would probably be best had we not made such a fuss at that moment. Either way, I wanted to capture his first time at Kindergarten.
I left, and then started phase II. Now I had to go back to FA to get P and bring her to MA for her new class orientation (sorry for the abbreviations). We spent an hour in her new classroom to get her a little bit comfortable before she starts school for real next week. Tomorrow I get to drop her off and she will be in there alone for an hour. They were just about to start circle time, and we sat down to hear some songs and some book reading. She sat and seemed to enjoy all of it, except she was a bit lazy/sleepy and didnt sit criss-cross apple sauce. She just lay there a bit, and we had to remind her to sit up. She also didnt like having any attention on her, as there are several moments where they call out each students’ name. Of course they got no response from her, to which I played mannequin and said her name behind her back. Didnt really help. Anyways, she got through circle time, and was happy it was snack time, however she still didn’t say a word to say that she would like anything. Obviously she does, so I handed her a few graham crackers. We then left to go back to FA.
We got there in the middle of water play, so I changed her back into her swim clothes and took off for work.
I made it to work finally, and before I knew it, I had to leave to come back to pick both of them up. I picked B up first, as I knew he had been there way too long for the first day. When I came back he was his loud self playing with a couple of other boys his size. They had built a wall with these large foam lego blocks. The wall was about as tall as they were, and of course B, even after spotting me, had to go and break down the whole thing. One of the other dads was there right before me to pick up his son. So the last boy said, “awwe, you guys are leaving?” At least it seemed that B had gotten comfortable for the moment. I still have my concerns because everywhere he has gone, the rooms are tiny. Of course he needs more space to spread out, and there are many more kids packed into one room. Also, I hope they have more focused activities as the days move on otherwise he will absolutely get bored. As we left I asked how his day was, and he told me that he was bored, and that he didn’t like it there. I hope that this passes as he gets more comfortable. He said all they did was talk about bookmarks, and that he made his own bookmark. He also commented that it was hard to get water to drink and was upset that I didnt pack him a bottle of water. My mistake, but I thought that they would be able to drink from the fountain whenever, but he said he had to wait for a long time (20 min, according to him). We were debating whether to give him boxed milk or not, but for now, I will pack him a water.
We then went to pick P up. When we got there, the first thing the teachers told me was that she was very “moody” today. I asked if they thought it was because of me breaking up her routine and maybe she has some reservations about starting a new school. They couldn’t figure it out either.
I decided that I would take them out for dinner and I asked B what he wanted to eat since I wanted to sort of treat him for having successfully completed his first day of Kindergarten. He at first chose FC, but I really didn’t want to celebrate there, and it would be very hard to take them both. His second choice was Aqui. He didnt know the name but he remembered the polenta cake that R had the last time we went there. That was quite a while ago. Nevertheless, it was a good choice as they have fairly fresh and healthy options. So I got him the polenta cake, we ate and went home.
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They both seemed pretty tired, as B also commented on our way home that he didn’t like his new school because he said he was tired. He said that they don’t take naps. I pointed out that it didnt really make a difference because he rarely took naps at his old school. He said ‘yes i did”.
They are off to bed now, and hopefully tomorrow will be a smooth day. I remembered that at MA B was going to miss out on an ice cream social because of his new school, but that we would be at his old school in the afternoon to let P attend her second orientation day. So right before dinner, I called his classroom to ask if he could attend the event. They said they thought that it would be great for him to be there, and I think he would really like it. However, he may make more comparisons about his old school vs. new school. No matter what, I think it would make him happy and make for a good Friday.
I posted some pics, but the better pics are on my memory card that I left at work. I will repost tomorrow.
Good job Dave! What a day!
Great Work! You (they) survived the big day.