Kindergarten

How did we get here so fast....Lennon is in kindergarten!  This whole summer, I was struggling with preparing myself for it and the few nights before his first day I had some breakdowns.  He's only doing half day, but it's still such a big step.  And, in the case of sounding super dramatic, life will never be the same--we will always be scheduling around school, holidays and breaks.  It was also difficult to let him go, knowing that he may not be 100% loved and protected in the school world...

But we got there--Lennon was talking about school some, and seemed a little excited.  The night before he picked out his outfit, which included his brand new Angry Bird converse high-tops.  On the first day of school, he was feeling excited and super cool (as, of course, he is!).

 Tesla even got in on the action:

 

 

 Don came over to watch Tesla so that Adam and I could just take Lennon to school.  Green Gables Elementary did this big thing on the front lawn where all the kids lined up according to classroom.  As soon as we got to school and found his classroom line, Lennon's excitement faded.  You could tell he was scared and he was trying hard not to cry.

 Adam and I said our goodbyes to Lennon and then moved to the parents area.  I kept telling him how proud we were of him and that he was being brave.  I was trying to keep it together.  I could hide my tears behind my sunglasses--I was trying to be brave like I was telling Lennon to do.  However, I looked over at Adam and he's wiping away tears. Somehow that made me feel better--if Adam was crying, I was completely valid in my tears!

 The school rolled out a "yellow brick road" and each classroom would walk down in while all the other classrooms and parents would clap.  It was really cute, but Lennon looked so small as he walked with his class.

Even though he was only gone 3 hours, I was really missing him that morning.  When Tesla and I went to pick him up from school, Lennon talked a tiny bit about his day.  I figured the fact that he talked about it at all was great!  The next few mornings he did great--he was excited to go to school!  But then the runny nose started--he caught a minor head cold that first week.  That first Friday, as I was saying goodbye to him in his classroom he clung on and started to cry.  But he still did great after I left and still talked about his day.

That second week began with more tears, even before we left the house.  He still wasn't feeling 100% and would cling onto me as I dropped him off--I felt awful!  I was trying to think of ways to make him feel brave about going to school and on Wednesday, as we were walking to his classroom he started crying and said that he missed me so much.  My immediate response to him was, "that's so great, thank you!"  He stopped short and was very confused.  I went on to explain that you don't miss people that you don't love, so the fact that he misses me so much and that I miss him so much means that we love each other so much....Success!!  He cried a bit as I dropped him off, but not as much.  The next day, no tears!!  As we were walking to school, he repeated what I said, saying, "Mom, I miss you so much because I love you so much, and that's good!" and that was that--he's been doing great every since!

He's doing great in school too--the other day he brought home a slip that said, "Lennon has been leading by example all day!"  We're super proud of him and he's extremely proud of himself!  He will tell us stories about how the other kids didn't listen, but that he always listens.  One day they didn't get to go to art because they were listening--he said, "I was listening, but I still didn't get to go to art." He's learning to be in a community of other kids...and the world! 

He says his favorite things to do in school are "learn...and gym!"  We're excited to see him continue to grow this year!