My Kindergartener

{ Doing his first homework assignment }

The weeks before school started were spent just getting Clark ready for Kindergarten.  We took him down to see his new school and turn in all his paperwork to get registered.  We took him to the back to school night to get all his packets and info.  We took him to take his placement test, which he totally rocked.  He knew stuff that I didn't even know he knew.  When the teacher went over shapes with him, he busted out 'cube' and 'cone' and 'cylinder'.  I had no idea he ever learned those in Preschool.  When we were leaving after his test, I asked him if he thought that the test was hard or easy and he said he thought it was pretty easy.  Although, Kal who was sitting right there through the whole test piped in and said that he thought it was pretty hard.  We found out two days later that his teacher was going to be Mrs. Mitchell.  Yay!!  We dont even know any of the other teachers, but Mrs. Mitchell is the one who gave Clark his placement test and he warmed to her really fast and I just loved her right away.  So that was good news.  And even though the boys had both been fighting being sick, we took them into Reno to go school shopping.  We bought Clark new clothes and a new backpack and lunch box and stuff for his lunches and took him to lunch at his favorite restaurant.  It was a good and tiring day.  And on top of all of that, we spent everyday talking to Clark about what school would be like and telling him how much fun it was going to be and I tried my best to not burst into tears whenever it came up.  I didn't want my mama anxiety about him starting to be present at all in him.  We just wanted him to be excited.  The night before school started, Brad gave Clark a fathers blessing that was so sweet and beautiful.  And then Kal wanted one.  And then Brad gave me one.  Very much needed, I think!

{The morning of his first day of school before I woke him up}

So the first day of school finally came.  I hadn't really been feeling so great the day before, but I powered through and thought maybe it was just pregnancy grossness combined with out of control emotionalness about Clark starting school.  I am not a crier. Like at all.  But being pregnant and hormonal when your first baby is starting school is just a recipe for disaster.  I may have cried like 5 times when I was packing his lunch for his first day.  It all started when I made him a sandwich and then realized that I made a whole sandwich, but that Clark has never been able to finish a whole sandwich and still only eats a half.  And then I put in a fruit snack and remembered that Clark still always needs me to open the little bag, cause he hasn't been able to master that one yet.  Brad just 'started' every corner of the bag and put it in hoping he'd figure it out.  Guys, it was way sadder than it should have been.  I didn't really sleep at all.

I woke up early the next morning, got all ready to go and planned on making him blueberry muffins and letting him pick out his little outfit and combing his hair just perfectly and taking a million cute pictures and all of us taking him in to his classroom and kissing him goodbye.  But... thats not so much how it went. 

I got SO sick.  It just hit me and it was all I could do to stand up.  I woke Clark and Kal and Brad up and then I was on the couch.  Worst.  Timing.  Ever.  Brad rushed to get ready while the boys ate some cold cereal, then he rushed to get Clark ready.  (thank goodness for Brad and his somewhat flexible work schedule) Clark's shirt was wrinkled and his hair was kinda messy and he hugged me goodbye while I laid on the couch.  Brad took one photo of him before they left and its just of Clark with his little forced smile.  He also took a picture of me laying on the couch, crying, but we will save that one for only our family collection.

So I watched Clark from the window, skip out to the car with Brad and I cried and cried and probably scared Kal a little bit.

But, Brad said that Clark went right into his class, no fear at all.  He found his cubby for his backpack and he found his table with his name on it and then he ran out to play with all the other kids on the play ground.  Just as happy as could be.  Brad was working at the school for a few hours that day, so he got to see him a couple times in the hall and said that he was happy and talking to the other kids and seemed just fine.

Brad picked Clark up after school and let him pick a treat at the store and then brought him home and he sat by me and told me all about his day.  He said that he made two friends, Pat and Sadie.  He already knew the letter A, but that he had to write it anyway.  He didn't know to take his lunch box with him to the lunch room, so he didn't eat his lunch.  But at snack time, he ate his fruit snack and had his juice box.  He loved going to the computer lab and he thought that school was too long and he wanted to come home after a while, but that he didn't tell his teacher that, cause all the kids told the teacher that, and he knew that he was going to come home, just later.  He said that it was a great day and that he couldn't wait to go back again.

I am so proud of him!!  He did such a good job.  And even though it was a hard day for me, he had the first day of school that he wanted and needed and that's all that matters.  He was brave and he made friends and had fun and that is what he will remember and that is all that a parent can hope for.  So, its okay with me.  I couldn't be more proud of him!

The rest of his first week went great too.  He made another friend named Brian who had a cool Mario Kart shirt.  They dipped their hands in chocolate pudding one day and Clark said that it looked like mud and all the kids thought that was funny.  He likes to sit on the letter C on the alphabet mat.  He remembered to take his lunch on the next two days.  He only eats half his sandwich.  He is good at staying in line.  There is a girl named Adriana who apparently keeps trying to wrestle Clark and that's been stressing him out.  His favorite thing at recess is playing with the balls.  He got a school tshirt that says 'Pony Pride' on the back, because that's the school mascot.  He loves the music class and thinks the teacher is pretty funny and he keeps talking about some video of a screaming goat that is apparently hilarious. 

He comes home each day a little tired and hungry, but happy and full of stories.  He has been saving something from his lunch each day to share with Kalvin when he gets home, like carrots or chips and it makes Kal feel so special.  He has been so proud to tell his Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and just about anyone else who calls, that he is in Kindergarten now.  Sweetest little boy in the whole world!!!!  

He has been so excited to go back next week, but I don't know if he is going to make it tomorrow, since he is laying here with a fever of 104 and a tummy ache.  Hopefully it will pass, poor thing.