Off He Goes

Jonathan has been going to Kindergarten for a week now. That pretty much makes him an expert. Here he is before school on his first day! Ben drove him to school that morning, and walked him to class from where the bus drops him off. He had a wonderful first day and couldn't wait to go back again.

Jonathan rides the school bus now. It picks him up right in front of our house. He loves that it's bouncy and that he knows a lot of the kids on the bus - and I love that I know the bus driver really well. I wait on the front porch to wave goodbye and then go in the house to do the morning routine all over again with the little ones.Zachary waited with us the first morning and waved for a long time as the bus drove off. Then he sat there totally subdued, and finally said, "Jonathan's gone..." I told him that Jonathan is just at Kindergarten and we will pick him up at lunchtime. "Oh!" He jumped up. "Then let's go eat breakfast!"

What is the most important thing Jonathan has learned in Kindergarten so far? He learned to draw a smiley face. He has to draw them everywhere. I think this began because his teacher puts a smiley face at the top of the paper when he does a good job. Why wait for the teacher to do it? I love looking over his papers with him after school and asking him every detail of what they did that day.

Ben and I are bigtime parents now that we have a son in school. The house has been much more quiet in the morning. And Zachary isn't getting picked on anymore. Instead he is the perpetrator. On it goes, the circle of life.

The main routine change for me (tangent coming...) has been making warm breakfast every morning. Jonathan's teacher told him that school boys don't eat Lucky Charms for breakfast. Hmmm. I don't mind though - that's how I grew up too. But it does take some getting used to, as the head chef around here. We keep it simple and I've noticed that with real breakfast I have more energy all morning as well. Jonathan is excited that there's such a fuss over him in the morning. I remember my schooldays and coming upstairs to the smells of my mother making breakfast, while she was half asleep. I was consciously grateful, even though I was young and immature. And now it's ME being the mom. I hope Jonathan recognizes the love as I'm snoring over the stove. Nostalgia... (I think my parents have chocolate milk and a banana for breakfast now. Haha, what we do for our kids...) Tangent ended.

Ben freely admits that he got a little misty eyed as he left Jonathan in the classroom that first morning. "We just handed Jonathan over the world!" But we're so proud of him and excited that's such a big boy. I am thrilled that he loves Kindergarten so far. We're off to a great start!