Firsts--Kindergarten

Public education is finally upon us.  Reese entered Kindergarten this fall and I must admit that I had mixed feelings about it.  I loved sending my kids off to preschool three days a week last year.  It gave Brisbane and I some much needed one on one time.  Allowed me to get errands run with only one kid.  And after some tough adoption transitioning, gave all of us a bit of a break.  But Kindergarten seems like so much more.  It's every day.  I actually care that he learns something.  I certainly have an opinion about public education and was worried about being "That Mom" (for the record... I am <hangs head in shame>).  But Reese and I had had a really hard summer.  Without Mack here, it was just me versus the kids and Reese was in major testing mode.  I think we both needed a break.  I needed to reassess some priorities as a parent.  And he desperately needed some more structure since pregnant mom during the summer had left much to be desired in that department.

I wasn't too worried about how Reese would feel about Kindergarten.  He loved preschool and so I thought he would be pumped about going to school everyday (plus it is only half day and actually less minutes than preschool).  Two days before school started I lugged all three kids to Back to School/Meet the Teacher Night (Mack had better be home next year for that, because I do not want to take all five of the little squirts next year by myself.).  We walked into the classroom and I put on my most excited, happy, enthusiastic face.  I could tell right away that this was not going to go well.  Reese had "the look".  His teacher told us we could choose a seat where there was a little gift for him and some paperwork for me (parents always get the worst deals).  I told Reese he could choose and he just looked at me and said, "Mom.  I don't want to do this."  By "this" he meant the whole thing.  The kid just wanted to run out the door.  I assured him it was going to be great and told him he could pick any seat he wanted (it didn't matter since it wasn't as if he was going to sit there on the first day of school).  But he couldn't/wouldn't.  So I chose a seat and asked Jessenia to try to keep Brisbane from screaming since he was not at all traumatized and wanted to run around the whole room touching everything.  Unfortunately for him, he was locked in his stroller, which he was protesting at the top of his lungs.

Once we found a seat, I hastily filled out the paperwork and we got the heck out of dodge.  Reese had his small gift of play-doh and a pencil in hand.  I wish I could have walked him around the room and shown him all of the cool things that he was going to get to do, but Brisbane was disrupting half the hallway.  So I quickly pointed out the Alphabet and reminded him that he knew all of his letters....and that was fun.... or something.

Now we are two days before school is starting and I am in full panic mode.  I had every intention of sending Reese on the bus the first day because I had the other two kids and knew that the school drop-off was going to be a disaster on the first day.  But now I wasn't so sure.  I was paranoid that Reese would simply protest getting on the bus since he had already tried to boycott Kindergarten all together.  But I prayed and decided that if I couldn't get him on the bus, I would drive him over to the school right quick.

We laid out his clothes and school supplies the night before.  I assured him he had made good "First Day of School Clothing Choices" (boy was I laying it on thick).  And the next morning, he woke up ready.

I knew he was nervous about the bus (he talked about it a lot).  But I assured him again that it would be ok and at the end of the day all three of us would be waiting for him.

 Here is the obligatory picture with Brisbane to avoid a full blown tantrum.

And there is my big Kindergartener.  When I took him to the bus stop that morning he was a bit traumatized by all the middle schoolers who knew each other (his school is K-8).  But I waited with him and didn't make him get in line until the bus pulled up.  And then he walked over to the bus like he had done it a million times and got on.  He didn't even look back.  And I didn't cry.  It was as if we were both old pros. 
Brisbane was devastated that he didn't get to ride the bus.  Jessenia was crushed that it was two weeks before preschool started.  When Reese got home, he told me he had had a great day.  And we were both so proud!
P.S.  He admitted to me two months later that he had gotten lost on the first day of school.  (I specifically asked him about that when he had gotten home and he said nothing about it.)  He hadn't known where to go when he got off the bus at school and couldn't find a teacher (which is what I had told him to do).  He said that he thought he was going to cry because he had been so scared.  "But don't worry, Mom.  I don't get lost anymore and am not scared."