Kindergarten

I officially have a Kindergartener now!

Whoa.

The first day went well. He even got a call from Ms. Rosemary while he was getting ready to wish him a happy first day of school, love her! Parents were encouraged to meet their kids at school that morning join them in class for the first 30 min. So Albert was able to get a couple hours off to join us! He got home right before it was time to go to the bus stop. So the three of us walked to the corner to wait for the bus. There were 2 other moms and maybe 7 or 8 kids. When the bus arrived they all got on, then so did Antonio. He got on without any hesitation. The bus driver asked him his name and he promptly told here, Antonio. I was so proud of him. 

 waiting at the bus stop.

 still waiting

 about to get on the bus

Getting on the bus! :)

Once he was on the bus, Albert and I got in the car and went to his school to meet him. All the younger kids, (K-maybe 2nd) meet under the covered play area in lines with their class. When we got there I didn't see Antonio yet, so of course I started to worry but sure enough he came walking over. Happily, a boy form his bus stop, the one getting on in front of him, was walking over to the covered area with him. I was so thankful for this. Antonio was smiling the whole time. Once I saw him, the kid went off to his classroom and Antonio and I got in line. Of course we got in the wrong line but once we figured it all out all was good. A few min later, Mrs Rusher came over an walked his class to the room. One by one they all went in. 

 Walking to his classroom

Waiting to go in. (probably the youngest in class, but the same size!)

Once in, they all got seated and started coloring a picture. Then they all sat and listened to a story, The Kissing Hand, before heading out to recess. During recess is when the parents left. Surprisingly, I had no tears. I think Pre-k last year helped me with that. I was definitely sad but no tears. When I got home I went on a run to try to calm my nerves, which I think helped. At 12:25, I went out and waited for Antonio's bus to drop him back off, due at 12:27. I was so excited to see him. There was one other Mom waiting so that was nice to see but of course she didn't speak much English and well, my Spanish is awful, so there wasn't much conversation. However, when 12:40 rolled around and the bus hadn't shown up yet she asked me what time they were supposed to be dropped off, in case she had it wrong. I told her, no they really were that late. She promptly called the school and sure enough the bus came around the corner about 1 min later. We were both relieved! Turns out the little girl is also in Antonio's class!

Antonio happily got off the bus and proceeded to tell me how they went all over, through the nursery and by daycare! He said, I wish I could be on the bus all day long. To which I respond, it felt like you were not he bus all day long! Then he told me the bus didn't have a potty and that he needed to go because he held it the whole time. :)

Every friday his school has a half day so he will go to school every other friday. So yesterday (last Friday) he went. On half days, school gets out at 1:35 (instead of noon for AM Kinder on regular days) so he got to take a lunch. He was very excited about this! He also got to take the bus from Ms Rosemary's with all his daycare friends. Rosemary had already asked the bigger boys, William and Marquis, to sit with him on the bus and help him find the right line when he got there. William seemed very anxious to help Antonio. :) All must have gone well because Rosemary texted me at 2:30 to let me know Antonio got off the bus safe and sound. Phew....

Rosemary also mentioned that a little girl form his class gets on and off there too. So both bus stops he will have a familiar face. Antonio said he had a good day. He ate most of his lunch and said he even went potty at school! (big yay since the day before he hadn't). I was telling Albert tonight that since Antonio is going early (just turned 5 versus just turning 6) he will probably "grow" so much this year. There were a couple kids in his class that looked 6, or even almost 7 but most of the kids looked about the same. Mrs Rusher, his teacher seems very nice but not very confident which concerns me. We found out that she taught Kindergarten last year but not until November, so she has never started a year with Kindergarteners. I then wondered why November and turns out the original teacher last year suddenly resigned, and they brought in Mrs Rusher. So I guess if she can come in in the middle of the school year and keep it going well then she can't be all that bad. I just wish she appeared a little more "with it". Hopefully she'll grow on me.

He has a nice size class, 18 including Antonio. I just pray all goes well for him this year. He seems to be really liking school though. Monday starts a full week of school (minus friday), so hopefully all goes well. I guess as a Mom we always worry about our kids; I just hope this anxious, over the top worry subsides soon. My mental/physical health can't take much more. Regardless, I am proud of him. He is starting out on this new adventure and appears to be conquering it just fine.