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. 

Article from The Huffington Post as mentioned in previous post.

Here is the article from The Huffington Post:

**grab a tissue or two**

To My Fellow Moms, on the First Day of Kindergarten

Dear New Kindergarten Mom,

This morning, I bundled my boys into the stroller and went out for one last impromptu morning walk. Max will be starting kindergarten next week, and the days spent hanging out in our jammies and meandering to the nearest park or Starbucks are almost over. My best friend texted me a picture of her own 5-year-old a few minutes later, standing in front of his new elementary school. "How did we get here?!" I texted back. It was yesterday that we were pregnant together. Visiting the fire station with toddlers together. Welcoming second babies together. "How did we get here?!"

Well, Mama, I want you to take a break from packing lunches and tucking pencils into binders. Click out of Pinterest for a minute, and stop reading the list about the Top 10 Lessons You Need To Teach Your Kindergartner. Put down the chalkboard frame that you're making for the perfect first day photo shoot, and listen up. This one is for you.

Kindergarten might be the beginning for our little ones, but it's a graduation of sorts for us.

How did we get here?

We waited and we worried, reading the BabyCenter emails each week that compared our rapidly growing babies to kiwis and oranges. We mourned losses and said goodbyes to the babies who grew in our hearts, but not our bellies. We labored and breathed and screamed and prayed as our littles made their way into our arms. We ate celebration dinners in hospital beds, or put on our best outfits and brightest smiles as a judge declared us a forever family, or opened our hearts to new dreams as we embraced our partners' children.

We cradled impossibly small newborn bottoms in the palms of our hands, cut hospital bracelets from tiny ankles and learned to swaddle little limbs into baby burritos. We winced at each bad latch, and exhaled with each great one. We filled bottles and emptied breasts, measured milliliters into droppers and g-tubes. We pumped and we mixed and we forgot to feed ourselves. We fed our babies with love.

We rocked, we paced, we sang. We woke every three hours, or every three minutes. We shushed and we danced and we dozed. We may have spent more time awake than asleep.

We cut grapes into tiny cubes. We cleaned pasta from the carpet and yogurt from their hair. We made sure that the green veggies weren't touching the orange ones.

We were Batman and Thomas and a dinosaur and a policeman and a princess. We stepped on 47 Legos and built 72 towers and 298 spaceships. We hid in blanket forts and behind closet doors. Sometimes we hid in the bathroom, because it was the only quiet place we could find.

We drove to preschool and playdates. We practiced our goodbyes and perfected our hellos. We caught slippery bodies at swim lessons, and twisted perfect topknots for ballet. We played the tambourine at music class and sang the "Hello, friend" song at Mommy and Me 341 times.

We held chubby little arms and legs tight as the doctor gave each shot. We counted ounces and inches and celebrated each step. We met with speech therapists and occupational therapists and oncologists and radiologists. We elbowed our way down paths that we never thought would rise up to greet us. We fought fear and doubt and guilt. We woke up each day, and put one foot in front of the other.

We yelled at our partners and cried to our mothers and fell into the arms of the friends who became our family. We learned to let other grown-ups love our kids, and struggled to accept a night out or a lasagna or a hug. Or a mimosa.

We worried about TV time and Vitamin D and developmental stages and hearing tests. We celebrated birthdays and did the potty dance and doled out stickers and ultimatums.

We kept going. We got better at it. We surprised ourselves.

We've been exhausted, and fed up, and overwhelmed, and overjoyed. We've cheered for first words and first steps and first date nights in months. We've fallen asleep during Dumbo and memorized Goodnight Moon and Horton Hears A Who.

We've bargained with God over stitches and lab tests and "routine" operations. We've soothed bad dreams and inspired bigger ones.

We've stepped on 4,724 Goldfish crackers and 3,193 Cheerios.

We've kissed scrapes and cheeks and noses. We've bathed squirmy bodies and cut tiny bangs. We've whispered I love yous against giggling bodies. We've hugged and we've helped and we've explained. We've answered 17,000 whys and why nots.

We've made it.

They've made it.

There will be thousands of firsts that follow this one. Our jobs aren't even close to being done. But on this first day, for the hours that stretch between squeezing his little hand goodbye and welcoming him back to the arms that he began in, be gentle with yourself.

In your heart of hearts, you know that he's ready.

But I'm here to tell you that you are, too.

You might think this first day is all about him, friend. But it's also about you.

How did we get here?

You.

You rocked and you fed and you soothed and you worried and you taught and you cuddled and you counted the nap time minutes and added up the ounces and marked the passage of time with pictures and gasps and tears.

So as that brave, crazy kindergarten teacher ushers you out tomorrow and closes the door behind you, be proud.

You did it. We did it.

That classroom of amazing, brilliant, imaginative, loving, self-sufficient (well, sort of), hilarious, unpredictable, completely capable little people? We made them that way. So before you walk away to worry about all of the first days to come and the homework and the life lessons and the setbacks and the TV time and the reward charts... come find me on the playground.

I'll be looking for you.

Let me be the first one to tell you "Good job, Mama. You survived. You watched as your heart grew outside of your body, and then you prepared him to greet the world alone. He is ready, because when they placed him in your arms, you were." For all of the times that we've told them "good job," and "great listening," and "you're so brave," and "I'm so proud of you," not once did we say those things to ourselves. So on that very first day of school, as you take one last look over your shoulder to make sure that your little one is safely tucked into her classroom, and you wipe away the tears as you climb back into your (suddenly very quiet) car, remember this.

You did it. You are so brave. I am so proud of you.

Just look how much you've grown.

Happy graduation, Mama.

Love,

A Kindergarten Mom, bawling her eyes out in the car parked next to yours

**This is such a great, very true article. 

Kindergarten, here we come.

Welp. Its here.

Antonio starts Kindergarten tomorrow morning.

The bus will arrive at 8:57 to pick him up and take him to school to begin a whole new chapter of his life.

Am I ready?

Plain and simple. NO.

However, I think he is. As you know he just turned 5 and the trend tends to be that summer birthday kids, especially boys, wait a year. We decided to go against the trend and send him this year. It was an incredibly hard decision for me, one that I am not 100% sure of yet. Both his Pre-K teacher and Ms. Rosemary seem to think he is very ready. I am sure part of my reasons for not being sure is that he is my baby and well, I am not ready to accept the fact he is going to school because that also means he is growing up and I'm not ready for that either. Another reason is that there are some social skills he hasn't mastered yet but that he can do.

I am sure he will be fine. I trust Ms Rosemary, in fact she is he second Mother in my opinion and if she says he's ready then he must be ready. Its like good cop/bad cop in the sense that I am extremely emotionally attached and possibly not as objective where she is. He loves her and she loves him; I can see it. She knows him and that makes me trust her. She really was a HUGE blessing for Antonio and us.

Anyways, last night was the meet n greet at his school we got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Rusher, who seems nice but did not seem very confident, which didn't calm my nerves. She seemed very nervous too. She will share the classroom with the PM kinder teacher, so she's part time; good for her. Maybe that will benefit Antonio's class later in the year in hopes she won't be as burnt out as other teachers.  I am hoping she will grow on me. She wasn't bad in any way, just not the "strong, yet gentle", confident teacher I was hoping for. We will see. The classroom didn't even seem "ready" either. Or maybe my expectations are to high; his pre-k room was much more "put together". My mom thought that maybe by tomorrow it will be better.

 Antonio and Mrs. Rusher

Today we went back to school for his Kindergarten assessment. From what Mrs. Rusher said it went good. I sat outside and filled out a survey so I have no idea what was asked or done. School had started for grades 1-5 so we got to see other kids walking in lines quietly and kids at recess.

Tomorrow, Antonio said he wanted to ride the bus to and from school. So we will walk to the corner and wait for the bus. I am beyond nervous about this. The whole no seatbelt thing, new faces and nobody he knows makes me nervous. If you know my kid at all, you know he does not thrive in situations where he doesn't know anyone. So thankfully, the bus ride is very short. I'm worried he'll be scared once he's on the bus, not knowing anyone or where to sit. Heck, part of me is worried in the moment he will decide he doesn't want to get on.

The parents are invited to meet our kids at school then all go into their classroom, help them get settled in. I guess Mrs. Rusher will read a story and then ask us parents to leave. I'm sure Antonio will be fine with that but I can only imagine how disruptive it could be. We'll see.

I found this tear-jerking, heartstring pulling article on Facebook from The Huffington Post and found it perfect. I will re-read this tonight and possible tomorrow after I come him from his school. In the off chance the link doesn't work I will post in in the following "post" to read.

Stay tuned for a follow up to his first day of school! :)

Camping

We went camping, just the 3 of us, for the first time last weekend. Other times had always been with others (our friends the Eberlein's). I checked my lists more times than I can count, we had no one to "lean on" so I wanted to make sure we had it all.  Happily we did!

We went to Kayak Point County park in Stanwood, about 30 min from our house. It was great, we felt like we got away for the weekend yet barely left Marysville. :) Antonio had a blast. We had a great campsite, the campground was very family friendly and there was a short hike down to the beach. It was a pretty step hike down, maybe a quarter mile but as you know, if we go down we have to come back up! Antonio did great. He did the trip at least twice each day we were there. There were lots of families with kids. In fact, next to us was a group with a baby (ugh), maybe a year old, across from us was a family with a couple kids and down from us was another family with kids, all about early elementary age or younger. The ice cream man even made rounds both nights we were there!

Our campsite.

We had a lot of good family time. Albert and Antonio took a trip down to the beach Monday afternoon to playing in the water while I chose to stay back at the campsite where it was much cooler. The tree's kept the campground mostly shaded, which kept it cooler.  It was still pretty warm but I was glad to be camping, outside, and not at home stuck in a hot house. We played Alphabet Bingo, a game similar to Memory and Antonio learned to play Go Fish; which he loved. Albert made a great fires in the fire pit both nights, which was a feat since Albert was a first time campfire builder. The forest night took a couple tries but once he got it, he got it! :) We were luck to be able to have one since as were leaving we heard the the DNR was extending the burn ban to campfires as well!

Proud fire starter! 

The first night we were there we went down to the beach to try to take pics of the sunset, Super moon and stars. The moon was so big and so bright we could barely see the stars and in fact saw our shadows on the driftwood! When we got back to our site it was surprisingly quiet. We crawled into out tent and all fell asleep. Albert and I were awaken by our neighbor baby crying. I figured it was the middle of the night but it was only 11:30! Surprisingly the campground was silent, except for the baby crying. I was shocked. You would've thought it was more like 2 am it was so quiet. The next night not so much. We only heard some people for awhile but that wasn't the worry, it was more the thunder and lightning! It was so loud and seemed to stay right on top of us for forever. Antonio was so tired from the day he fell right to sleep as it was getting close. He slept through the whole thing, I was shocked. By the time the storm passed the campground was pretty quiet!

Eek!

We knew the storm was coming, so before we went to bed we put everything in our car in case it rained a lot. I was glad we did. It rained but you could barely tell the next morning since the trees protected us so much. The next morning, since it was on the chilly side, we got up, had breakfast and packed up. We were home before 11; it was great!

We seemed to have camped through the two (preferred) camping extreme's this year. When we went with The Eberlein's in June, it was cold and rainy the whole time. This time it was hot and had a thunder/lightning storm. Our tent held up really well for both. We are thinking about getting a bigger tent but I hate to get a different one since this one is so good. It would be so nice to have a bigger one so we could move around a little easier and weren't so cozy. We currently have a 4-person tent and would love a 5-6 person tent so not a lot bigger but bigger. If you have any suggestions on brands, I'd love to hear them.

Since our trip was so successful we plan on doing it again next year and probably to the same place.  We might even try out another one that is pretty close too. Antonio is such a great camper. He loves helping with the fire, having s'mores, sleeping outside and exploring the campground. He only "bit it" once, granted it was a good one. He scrapped the heck out of his elbow, knee, chest (yes, chest too) and ended up with a mouthful of dirt. Poor kid. After listening to so many kids around us, fussing/crying, and flat out talking very loudly, I counted my blessings that he is so well behaved, 90% of the time! ;)

Happy boy with a s'more!