First Day of Kindergarten

I'm grieving the loss of summer this week. Oh, I know it's only August 2, but summer is pretty much over. You know my little ones started school last week and Curly had his first real day of Kindergarten today. Yeah, on a Friday, short day, so he only went for about 2 hours. It's a good way to ease him in, I guess.

My sweetie and I drove him down to the school a few minutes early so he could play on the playground with his friends. Did I tell you that our kids are still at a neighboring school rather than their own? The air conditioning is supposed to be finished in 2 weeks so they can move back into their regular building, but for now they are having school in an elementary in our district that is not year-round. Anyway, long story short, we drop the older kids at our regular school and then they ride the bus half a mile to the new school. Then after school they leave their classes a few minutes early to get on the bus for the ride back.

So I reminded Curly that when he got off the bus he would have to look for Sport and Scout and they would be looking for him too. There would also be grownups there to help him find them. He smiled and seemed content with the plan. In fact, he always smiles. The world is a happy place for him and that makes it much easier on days like this.

He was the second child to line up and just before they headed through the door he turned and grinned at me. He is so ready for school!

After feeling like the oldest parents standing around watching their kids head off to kindergarten, my sweetie and I slipped back to our vehicle. No point lingering...they weren't coming back out. At the house I finished my package for Teach and some other correspondence and planned a quick run to the post office. My sweetie offered to drive.

As we left the post office, we both realized that it was almost time for school to be out. We decided it would be fun to pick the kids up after the buses dropped them at our regular elementary school so they wouldn't have to walk home. We arrived at the school about the same time the buses were leaving. There were about 50 kids milling about so I got out of the car and walked over to the drop-off spot.

Scout and Sport were standing there, talking with the bus attendants. "Where's Curly?" I asked, looking around. "He wasn't on the bus," Sport confessed. (In his defense, he had no way of knowing that until he got to the school. The buses are arranged according to grades.) The attendant whipped out her cell phone and dialed the main office. The secretary there offered to locate him and call us back.

A couple of other girls had also lost a little sister, so we weren't the only ones. We waited for about 3 minutes before the confirmation came. He was waiting in the office for us to pick him up. We hurried back to the car and piled in. I wasn't sure if he would be upset or scared. I could imagine all sorts of problems.

My sweetie pulled into the fire lane and even though most of the kids were gone, they made us drive all the way to the end for pick up. I climbed out of the car and hustled to the school. I pulled open the big doors, words of comfort at the ready, prepared for him to fall weeping into my arms vowing to never go to school again. I walked a little faster.

I could see him sitting on a chair inside the office before he saw me. There were no tears, no wailing or gnashing of teeth. He was just waiting calmly. As I walked through the open doorway he turned and looked at me, a huge grin splitting his face. I had worried for nothing. His teacher apologized profusely, saying she forgot to send him to the bus and it would never happen again. One look at my son with his hand in mine and I let her off the hook with a big smile.

Maybe he gets it from me.