Kindie Garden

My baby started kindergarten last Wednesday.  I can hardly believe it.  I'm officially old.

It was seriously the craziest week!  I'm barely feeling like I'm recovering from it all.  :)  My mom was staying with us for a few weeks while she was between residences (her contract was up on her old place, and she was looking for a new one), and on Monday- she signed a contract for her new place and started moving in.  We got a U-Haul and everything; it was no small thing (she has a lot of stuff).  We moved a ton that night and then kept the U-Haul to use again on Tuesday.  Mom took work off on Tuesday so she could finish the move.  Derek still had to work, but the kids and I went to her house to help.  We were in the middle of it all when her phone rang, and she found out she needed to drive down to Provo ASAP- a family emergency of sorts.  Craziness.  So she left, and we came home.

I put the kids down for naps and got ready for work.  As I was hurrying to get ready (and running late), my phone rang.  It was the charter school we' ve been trying to get James into for the past six months.  I seriously had called them just about every day this month to see if James had moved up the waiting list at all.  Their classes started on Tuesday (the same day we're discussing), and I knew he was close.  Just that morning, however, I'd called to see if James had made the cut and was told he hadn't.  So I came to terms with the idea of not going there and told James all about the public school he would be attending and how cool it would be and how he could even wear shirts with pictures on them (as the charter school requires uniform-type attire).  And yet, around 5:20pm on Tuesday, they called.  Apparently one of their students in the pm class did not show up to the first day of school and there was consequently an opening.  If we wanted James in, he would start the next day.

I wasn't sure of what to do.  On one hand, I'd wanted James in this school (for various reasons) for months!  Yet on the other hand, I'd lately been feeling good about the public school and had been prepping James for it.  I told the girl I'd call her back after I talked to Derek.  After a bit of discussion (and a bit of panic on my part), we decided to go for it.  I called to tell her we were in, ran the concept by James (trying to pump him up about the idea of starting school the very next day) and stopped by Walmart on my way home from work to buy school supplies and khaki shorts.  We got everything sorted and ready, and he started kindergarten on Wednesday.

I went in with him on Wednesday while they were between classes so that he could see the school and meet the teacher.  The secretary is ridiculously sweet and took him for a little tour of the school, showing the library, playground, etc. He was pretty excited about what he saw.  Then we met his teachers (one's an aide) and dropped off the (enormous amounts of) school supplies we'd brought.  We left and hit up McDonalds for a quick, celebratory lunch before school (don't worry; his breakfast was much healthier and heartier).  Derek met us there on his lunch break.  We'd wanted to have Derek give our kids a father's blessing before their first days of school, but the craziness of how this particular first day went down made that fall through the cracks.  So we improvised.  After lunch, we piled in the car with James on Derek's lap... and Derek was able to give James a blessing after all.  :)

James and I went back to school after that.  They had me stay since I'd missed the intro day where parents sat in on Tuesday, so I got to watch and see just how wonderful kindergarten was going to be.  And it really was.  James did great!  I was so proud of him!  And so excited for him!  The teacher was fantastic; his classmates were adorable; and really, the whole day was fabulous.  He's going to love kindergarten.  It's possible he already does.

It's such a bitter-sweet thing to watch my baby grow up.  But regardless of the craziness surrounding this step toward independence and adulthood (sniff), it was a happy day.  I might just be able to let him go without me each day.  Maybe.