Kinder Success!

Cool first-day duds

Well, here we are, finishing up our 3rd week of kindergarten. What? This is the first time I have mentioned kindergarten? It has been so smooth and so far without incident but I have a lot to report! I am so very proud of my Monkey. He was not nervous about starting kinder in the slightest. He was excited. I guess it was more or less my fears that I was trying to project on him. Here he went from this tiny preschool, where he was fortunate enough to have the same teachers for two years in a row - to a big school that goes all the way to 5th grade. Almost twice as many students in his class, and 2 teachers who share the teaching duties. Additionally, the early birds and late birds overlap for a while in the middle of the day. Sounds like utter chaos to me! This would also be the first time he would need to bring a lunch.What would I pack? Would he eat it? Would he make friends?

Turns out, there are 2 kids in his class he went to preschool with (win!). A neighbor boy from across the court is also in his class. He got the "good" teachers that everyone raves about. And lunch? Its at 10:45 a.m. It's like a freakin' snack. Who eats lunch at 10:45? I keep it pretty basic. Celery, carrots and cherry tomatoes - seriously - my kid likes this stuff. Some baked Goldfish crackers. A Juicy Juice box. And 1/4 of a sandwich...which is really teeny but as it is it nearly goes to waste since he eats the other stuff first and wants to play and again, who wants to eat lunch at 10:45?!

Locating his name tag so everyone can start to learn his name

Lining up to go into his classroom. Not a tear in sight!

I am starting to volunteer in his classroom every other week for an hour. I get to spy on visit with my son, see who these friends are that he is talking about, and see how these teachers are in the class room. And I love seeing him make new friends. The first couple days he told me there was a boy who did not want to play with him. I told him, "Move on and play with other kids. Don't get hung up on someone who doesn't want to play with you." He told me, "No, I am going to keep trying until he plays with me." The next day he was very excited, because this boy DID play with him! And they are now bosom buddies. He's going to be just fine!

I get to drop him off every morning, so I get to spend alone time with him in the car, plus I often run into some of my Mom friends for brief chit-chat before I head off to work. His class starts at 7:45, and I wake him up at 6:15 or so. I am mostly ready by the time I wake him up but occasionally stop home to finish my make up before I head off to work. I can't say I love this new schedule. I am so tired in the morning, and I am not a big fan of mornings or of having to go to bed so early!  Additionally its been a struggle to find time to work out but I am slowly falling into a routine with school and hope soon everything will be settled so I can figure things out. Whew.

Has your school year started yet? How has it been going so far? Any big transitions/hurdles?