Kindergarten, Here We Come

First Day of Kindergarten

School in our area officially began on Monday.  Edmund went in for a quick assessment on Monday.  Edmund enjoyed his 10 minute assessment and counted it as the first day of kindergarten.  I was a bit worried if he thought that was what kindergarten was like everyday, I might have a disappointed child on my hands after his "real" first day.  I needn't have worried.  Edmund had his first full day of kindergarten today, albeit with only half his class, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I warned Edmund last night that the start of the day would be paparazzi heavy.  I'm often lazy with the pictures, but this is one day I didn't want to escape photo documentation.  Edmund was so excited about school, he even obliged my request for a kindergarten interview about his likes and dislikes.  If I'm organized enough and Edmund cooperates, I hope to repeat the same interview until I send him off to college.  We'll see how that goes.

After the photo shoot was complete, and Steven and I made sure the house was in one piece (we somehow forgot Evie was in the house with free reign at the time), all four of us loaded into the car.  I'd been warned that if we didn't get to school early enough we might have trouble finding parking and then would be unable to walk Edmund in.  There was no way I wasn't going to walk Edmund in on the first day.  Fortunately, we arrived with plenty of time to spare.  

So Grown Up

I was a bit of a mess, as I was the previous night.  But not in the teary way most normal moms deal with kindergarten.  I chose ridiculous things to focus on, such as Edmund's lunch and snack.  Last night I spent time pouring over what I could pack for lunch each day that would be varied enough without having to do too much work.  Then this morning I debated where in Edmund's backpack to put his snack so he wouldn't eat it for lunch.  When we got to school I stressed over where to put Edmund's lunch box, in his hand or in the backpack.  Was it too heavy for Edmund's little body? I put it in and took it out.  I changed where the snack went again and again all while Edmund watched in confusion.  So much for trying to make his day uncomplicated!  Eventually Steven talked me out of my madness.  

8:35 arrived, and we could finally enter the building.  School starts at 9, but since we arrived extra early we all went in to get Edmund settled.  Edmund excitedly entered the classroom and found his name in his cubby and at his table.  He immediately began chatting the teacher's ears off, telling her about what the differences were between kindergarten and his preschool.  I won't be surprised if a note eventually comes home telling us that Edmund is talking too much.  While Edmund got situated, Evie ran around the classroom trying to pull stuffed animals off the shelves.  Since we didn't want her destroying the classroom, Steven took her out in the hall while I said good-bye to Edmund.  Then we did a switch so he could also say his good-byes.  During the good-byes all Edmund wanted to know was what was going to happen first.   He didn't mind that this was a new school or classroom, he was ready.  As much as I wanted to stay, I made my way out of the room quickly.  Edmund's teacher was probably all too glad, since after kindergarten orientation she has probably labelled me the crazy mom.  However, that's a story for another day.

The day went on with no phone calls, so I assumed, and rightly so that all was well.  Steven, Evie, and I loaded in the car around 3 to brave the pick-up line.  I'd heard horror stories about the wait for pick-up and they weren't too far off.  Poor Evie and I are probably going to sit in the car for 30 minutes every afternoon.  I need to come up with some games, so if you have some good toddler ones send them my way.  I'm so thankful I had friends who shared tips about how to maneuver pick-up or I would have been a bigger mess than I already was today.  At 3:40 Edmund was finally called out to our car.  He came running out with a huge smile on his face, so I knew he had had a great day.

On His Way

Unfortunately, it was hard to get much out of Edmund about his day on the drive home.  That's how he's been ever since he could talk.  I told Steven before pick-up to expect to hear everything from him except what we actually want to know.  That was pretty much what occurred.  Fortunately, we often get information throughout the afternoon, so by the end of the night we were able to piece together most of the day's events.  We learned that he learned less in kindergarten than he had in preschool.  Steven gathered that meant that going to kindergarten strips away some IQ points


.  I had prepped Edmund about all he will learn this year so much so that I think he got it in his head he would learn it all the first day.   When they didn't expect him to write his last name he was floored.  That's been a big push here at home the last couple of weeks.  We also learned that during what Edmund called "play time," he chose to draw a map of the school for his teacher since she was new.  He also brought a map home for us so we wouldn't get lost.  I thought it was an assignment, but it seems like he set out to create this map all by himself.  It is actually quite an accurate map.  Finally, we discovered that all the kids in his class are his new friends, but that his "old preschool friends will be his friends until he dies".

I was relieved when I learned his nightly homework wouldn't start until next week.  I have been dreading homework, but know I need to stay positive for Edmund.  I needn't worry though, because even though Edmund didn't have any work to do, he immediately set to work on his own.  I had a headache and told Edmund I needed to lie down for 10 minutes.  His reply, "that's fine, I'm making important school papers and grown-ups can't help,"  Obviously Edmund is on a first day high, but I sincerely hope that his joy for schooling continues this year and beyond.