Okay, I already know that pretty much all our friends and family have already done this job, "seeing how we ended up being older parents and all", and that is sending your little one to kindergarten, but it's our first time!
I won't lie. Sure, it's going to be hard. I'm sure I'll cry. In fact, it's still hours away, and I feel like crying about it now. We talked about what's going to happen. Then, today he had a fantastic day: got in bed with us early and cuddled, walked the dog down the path
and to the "Billy Goats Gruff" bridge where the troll lives, 
fresh pancakes for breakfast, played his Indiana Jones Lego video game for a little while, went house hunting with us for an hour or so, had lunch at Fuddruckers, .jpg)
then played in the apartment complex pool from about 4 pm to 7 pm, when the pool closed for the season, 
bath to wash off the pool chemicals, dinner, read a story, cuddled, went to bed and had Papa show him how to turn off his alarm when it goes off at 6:30 am (he's a clock alarm kinda kid, don't ask), and then he laid in bed for awhile and didn't go to sleep. I'm sure he was just thinking about it, school that is. We talked about riding the school bus, how exciting that will be. What a big boy he is, how proud we are of him, how he's grown up to be a kindergartner now! When I checked on him a little later, he had never moved out of position from being tucked in earlier, and he was finally asleep. Tucked in comfy with his Teddy and Elmo stuffed animals on either side of his pillow.
We don't even know where his bus is supposed to pick him up, probably somewhere near the main entrance to the complex. Sometime between 7 am and 7:30 am "the first week" while the school figures out the bus route schedules.
I know there is life after "letting go" and I'm sure I'll be taking advantage of it. It's different, though, than when I leave him in the care of a babysitter, or drop him off at preschool. He's gonna be RIDING the BUS! Alone, no one there assigned to keep an eye on him, so he's taking his first real independent steps. Okay. Okay. Yes, I'm okay.
I'm just gonna wear my sunglasses. Probably all day.
And be there at 2:45 to get him off the bus. And all will be fine. It's just that my baby is going to kindergarten. He's doing all that we've been raising him to do: to grow up into a fine young man.
And, despite the fear of letting go and of taking the next step forward as parents, none of this is about "me", as it's all about Christopher. It's so fun to watch his reactions and comments and try to find answers to his numerous questions. He's very literal, very, very, literal. That makes things a little more interesting when trying to explain to him what's happening and what to expect next. But, oh, he's so very excited to be going to a big boy school! He talks about his "old school" of when he used to go to pre-school when he was 3 and 4, but now that he's 5, well he gets to go to a big boy school where he's going to learn how to read. That also means our days of spelling things he's not supposed to know about are numbered now. He already tries to "spell" things on his own, just for fun. "M M N N O R D" is just one of the random letter strings he sometimes belts out, at no special times or places, and then he laughs. We ask him what he's spelling, and he smiles or laughs. He already does a lot of rhyming games, and used to make up words when he was just 3, for fun, so we are also aware that the days of us mentally relaxing are almost over. Once he passes us up, which probably won't be long, well, that will mean we have to try to at least keep up with him so he doesn't play too many tricks on us without our knowledge. Maybe we'll have to just refer back to days like this and randomly spell non-words to him, just to throw him off, maybe when he's 11 or something. That will be fun! :)
We'll put pictures here probably tomorrow or so (okay, done). It's been a little difficult to get some of the "fun" and non-essential things done with being so displaced and trying to find a home, etc. And we've been trying really hard to find a home to live in that is close enough to his school so he doesn't need to switch schools after only being in kindergarten for a month. And, if that is not successful, then we are trying to find a neighborhood that has access to one of the schools with good ratings. The schools in Hampton and Newport News are "hit and miss" as the locals keep telling us. Our research supports their comments, unfortunately.
So, off to bed for us, and wish us well in letting our baby try out his wings a little.
I won't lie. Sure, it's going to be hard. I'm sure I'll cry. In fact, it's still hours away, and I feel like crying about it now. We talked about what's going to happen. Then, today he had a fantastic day: got in bed with us early and cuddled, walked the dog down the path
and to the "Billy Goats Gruff" bridge where the troll lives, fresh pancakes for breakfast, played his Indiana Jones Lego video game for a little while, went house hunting with us for an hour or so, had lunch at Fuddruckers, then played in the apartment complex pool from about 4 pm to 7 pm, when the pool closed for the season, bath to wash off the pool chemicals, dinner, read a story, cuddled, went to bed and had Papa show him how to turn off his alarm when it goes off at 6:30 am (he's a clock alarm kinda kid, don't ask), and then he laid in bed for awhile and didn't go to sleep. I'm sure he was just thinking about it, school that is. We talked about riding the school bus, how exciting that will be. What a big boy he is, how proud we are of him, how he's grown up to be a kindergartner now! When I checked on him a little later, he had never moved out of position from being tucked in earlier, and he was finally asleep. Tucked in comfy with his Teddy and Elmo stuffed animals on either side of his pillow.We don't even know where his bus is supposed to pick him up, probably somewhere near the main entrance to the complex. Sometime between 7 am and 7:30 am "the first week" while the school figures out the bus route schedules.
I know there is life after "letting go" and I'm sure I'll be taking advantage of it. It's different, though, than when I leave him in the care of a babysitter, or drop him off at preschool. He's gonna be RIDING the BUS! Alone, no one there assigned to keep an eye on him, so he's taking his first real independent steps. Okay. Okay. Yes, I'm okay.
I'm just gonna wear my sunglasses. Probably all day.
And be there at 2:45 to get him off the bus. And all will be fine. It's just that my baby is going to kindergarten. He's doing all that we've been raising him to do: to grow up into a fine young man.
And, despite the fear of letting go and of taking the next step forward as parents, none of this is about "me", as it's all about Christopher. It's so fun to watch his reactions and comments and try to find answers to his numerous questions. He's very literal, very, very, literal. That makes things a little more interesting when trying to explain to him what's happening and what to expect next. But, oh, he's so very excited to be going to a big boy school! He talks about his "old school" of when he used to go to pre-school when he was 3 and 4, but now that he's 5, well he gets to go to a big boy school where he's going to learn how to read. That also means our days of spelling things he's not supposed to know about are numbered now. He already tries to "spell" things on his own, just for fun. "M M N N O R D" is just one of the random letter strings he sometimes belts out, at no special times or places, and then he laughs. We ask him what he's spelling, and he smiles or laughs. He already does a lot of rhyming games, and used to make up words when he was just 3, for fun, so we are also aware that the days of us mentally relaxing are almost over. Once he passes us up, which probably won't be long, well, that will mean we have to try to at least keep up with him so he doesn't play too many tricks on us without our knowledge. Maybe we'll have to just refer back to days like this and randomly spell non-words to him, just to throw him off, maybe when he's 11 or something. That will be fun! :)
We'll put pictures here probably tomorrow or so (okay, done). It's been a little difficult to get some of the "fun" and non-essential things done with being so displaced and trying to find a home, etc. And we've been trying really hard to find a home to live in that is close enough to his school so he doesn't need to switch schools after only being in kindergarten for a month. And, if that is not successful, then we are trying to find a neighborhood that has access to one of the schools with good ratings. The schools in Hampton and Newport News are "hit and miss" as the locals keep telling us. Our research supports their comments, unfortunately.
So, off to bed for us, and wish us well in letting our baby try out his wings a little.
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