Big-Bug Starts Kindergarten!

Well, the day we have been thinking about for the past five and a half years has finally arrived.  Big-Bug has officially started school. I have alternated between dreading this day and excitedly anticipating this day for the past year (mostly depending on what kind of mood Big-Bug happens to be in on a particular day ha ha) It is strange to realize that this will now be the "norm" around here for the next 17 years!  For five and a half years, Big-Bug belonged to me alone and now suddenly he has a part of his life (a big part!) that doesn't include his brothers and me. Part of me wants to keep him home with me (hey - there's home school right!?) and another part of me is so excited to see him head out into the world with confidence to learn new things and make new friends.  But all of me feels like the past five and half years passed by way too quickly!  Only another four years from now I will have all three kids in school!  Hard to imagine :)

Big-Bug decided he wanted to ride the school bus to school this year (eek!) so on his first day of school all five of us went out to the bus stop to wait for the bus to arrive.  It showed up right on time and Big-Bug didn't hesitate for a second.  He climbed right up the steps of the bus, found a seat, sat down and started waving to us from the window.  The rest of us hopped into the car and drove up to the school to meet the bus so we could make sure Big-Bug found his way from the bus parking to the kindergarten classroom without any confusion. When we arrived, we found out the school has a great method for keeping track of it's students and all the kids who ride the bus go straight into the gym each morning where they line up by grade and are then released one line at a time into the hallway of the school.  We intercepted Big-Bug when he got off the bus to explain this new info to him and he changed direction and headed straight into the gym.  With a little assistance from the gym teacher, he found the kindergarten line (as I watched through the window) and sat down next to the other children.  We left at that point and as we all walked back to the car my husband told me "It's alright for you to cry, just don't go over the top okay?" ha ha  When he said that to me I paused for a moment to think about it, did I feel sad?  Not really! I was going to miss Big-Bug for sure, but more than anything I was looking forward to hearing about his day when I picked him up from school....only two and a half hours later :)

When the time came, we pulled up to the school with Big-Bug's favorite treat, a vanilla steamer from Starbucks, and waited for the teachers to bring their students out front.  When they walked out, Big-Bug was grinning from ear to ear and barely even noticed I had a steamer for him because he was so busy telling me about the picture he painted, the story they read, and the sparkly playdoh he got to play with in class.  But he was the most excited to tell me "Mom, I can READ!!"

The only negative piece of news he reported was he did NOT enjoy lining up in the gym with the students who ride the bus.  Apparently the teacher in the gym blew a whistle when it was time for the students to be dismissed and Big-Bug thought it was way too loud. He said it scared him and hurt his ears and he no longer wants to ride the bus if it means sitting in the gym each morning.  I was a little surprised he would let a little whistle keep him from the awesomeness of the bus ride (which he LOVED) but he was very insistent. So from now on we are dropping him off in the mornings so he can line up with the kids who get a ride from their parents in the front of the school (under the supervision of a teacher who told me she NEVER blows her whistle because she thinks it is too loud)

Today when we picked Big-Bug up from his second day he told us he got to read books with a "bigger kid," ran into some of his preschool friends at recess (where they apparently played "ninjas") and that tomorrow they are going to work their letter sounds again. I think it is going to be a fun year :)