So, as a family plus GG, we went to Meet the Teacher night at his school. We found his teacher and his classroom and he was happy, but of course other than that, there is not much to expect. They got popsicles as we walked out of the gym, so that was a highlight!
Fast forward to the first day of school and he was excited! At Meet the Teacher, she gave each kid an envelope of colorful sequins and called them Jitter Glitter. They included a little poem instructing each kid to put them under their pillow to help get the jitters out for their first day of school. Both he and Grace LOVED this, although when he woke the next morning, the first thing he told me was that he "was not sure that jitter glitter worked". He got dressed, got his Star Wars lunchbox and backpack on, took first day of school pictures, and off we went to school. Vic and I took him and GG stayed with the girls. I was not emotional or nervous, but just excited! While everyone kept asking me how I was doing in the past few weeks with him going to Kindergarten, it occurred to me that I wasn't sad because this was so exciting and fun! I was mostly just anxious to get it started.
We took him to his room where it was SO quiet, got him settled, snapped a few more pictures and started to walk out when he started to get a little sad. He did not want us to leave and needed extra hugs but of course other than that, we just had to go and not look back. I was nervous he was going to cry, but when Vic had to slip back in a couple minutes later to sign something we forgot, he said Atticus was looking down coloring and seemed fine. Hooray!
The day lasted forever as Grace, Everly and I waited for him to get done with school. We picked him up and he was SO happy and could not stop talking about his day. We got to the house and had about 30 minutes to burn before we went to Cecilia's for first day of school Pencil Cake. So, we hung out in the car and he talked nonstop about his day; here are a few quotes in the nonstop manner in which he spoke:
"I got to go to the cafeteria!! John had to eat green beans; he had to buy his lunch." (he was SO excited about the cafeteria but felt so sorry for John.) "We read The Kissing Hand and Charlie has the same backpack as me but with the Dark Side. And John brought TWO pictures of himself at Sonshine School and I went last to show everyone my pictures because mine was so special." (They had to bring things about them to school the first day to share). "At the cafeteria, your voice level has to be a 2; in the hallways it has to be a 0." I asked him about PE and Art and he said "My tummy hurted when I was running; but we did Wacky Olympics!! We ran, we hula hooped and we did balls. We just did paper art; no painting yet." Then he started talking about friends and PE. "Charlie said when it was raining outside he buried his excavator; wait. maybe it might have been Tommy. I saw Luc and Patrick and Erin at School today!" (neighborhood friends). "And I saw our principal Mrs. Rohrabeck. Wanna hear about the music room? Well we didn't really go in there, but we just looked in the room." When I asked him his favorite thing, he said "All of it was too fun!" Was there anything you didn't like? "I didn't like having to sit." What did you think of your teacher? "Mrs. Downs? I love her! But, I don't think the jitter glitter worked. I was sooooo nervous. But why can't I ride the bus? Oh Grace! You are going to love this! There was someone with a shimmer shine backpack!!"
And that was about it. He was just so funny. So, day 1 was great; we went to Cecilia's to see her kids and Meghan's kids for a few minutes to eat this fancy Pencil Cake she made. And then headed home for the night. It was a great day.
The next morning, for school, instead of dropping him off at his class, his school has Morning Assembly from 7:35 to 7:45 in the gym and then their teachers take them to class. They have announcements and other things happen (stories, 4H came and talked, quick math brain games, etc.) and then they always read the lunch menu, do the U.S. and Texas pledges, and have a moment of silence to pray. So, I must not have prepared enough for this day with Atticus. We went into school; I took him to his line he sits in with his class, hugged him and went to stand on the wall with other parents. He kept looking over at me smiling, excited and giving big thumbs up to me. All was good. Then, after the moment of silence, all the kids start standing up and parents start walking out and he just panicked. He bursts into tears running toward me, leaving his stuff on the ground and his class behind and saying "don't leave me mommy!" He was crying so hard and just wanted me to hug him and he was all sorts of confused I think. Of course, this was utterly heart wrenching. I knew him well enough to know that he was truly panicked and confused and didn't know what was supposed to happen next. His teacher takes him and gives him hugs, but he is just crying and all I can do is leave. I didn't cry at at all the first day of school, but I couldn't stop all day on Tuesday. I felt so ridiculous but every time I pictured him bursting into tears and running towards me, I just cried! It was another long day of waiting for 3:05 to arrive so I could see him. I really felt like he would be just fine and have a good day, but my goodness it was hard to just leave him in that building with a bunch of people he didn't know. I sent a quick email to his teacher during her office time and she responded and said he was fine within minutes. But, I definitely longed to see him all day long. When I picked him up, he was happy and fine and when I got home, all he wanted to do was sit in my lap and snuggle on the couch. I was perfectly fine with that. I knew he was exhausted so he and Grace and I watched TV and vegged while Everly slept. He didn't want to play or do anything except snuggle. Vic gets home and thinks he is warm and sure enough, he has a little fever. He had mentioned his throat hurting that morning and that evening and I thought he might be getting a little cold that I had the week before. But, I was determined to keep him going to school if at all possible. Tylenol helped right away! On Wednesday morning, I explained to him that I would leave after morning assembly and that he did not need to cry. Well, on Wednesday morning, he just kept looking at me sadly during morning assembly and then cried when it was time to go. It was then that I decided staying for Morning Assembly made things harder for him. Wednesday night, his throat still hurt but no fever. And Thursday morning, he woke ready for school and feeling good. I left him without staying for morning assembly and we had no tears! He was tired again, but woke up happy and good Friday for another great day! The only bad thing by Friday at 3:05 when I picked him up? He came to the car with little sores all over his chin and no idea how they got there. A Saturday morning doctor visit confirmed Impetigo, which we had not had before. So, meds for that and we were good to go again!
So, the first week of school was truly a success; we battled almost getting sick but won! We got a routine and understanding of how our mornings and afternoons would go. And, through it all, he really enjoyed his week! I'll do another post next to catch everyone up on Kindergarten since then, but see some pictures below!
The first few are from Meet the Teacher Night meeting Mrs. Downs, his kindergarten teacher.
When he woke up from the first day of school, we talked on the couch. This is the face of my little Atticus the morning he started Kindergarten! It's funny because this is so much like the baby face I see from age 2 or 3.
We took some photos. Of course, first he needed to dress up in one of them.
Then, we headed to his class, dropped him off and realized we'd made it through the first kid starting Kindergarten!
Then, Grace and Everly and I waited and waited all day and got into the car line nice and early and these are our excited faces!
After this, we ate some Pencil Cake (isn't it amazing?? so nice of them to invite us to join their fun tradition!) and headed home because we were all emotionally exhausted! Oh and here is his schedule and class list. This is mainly just for me to remember!
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