Ready or not, the beginning of school was upon us. The kids were ready, and I really wasn't. I love having them home without the constraints of the school day schedule. But, the kids were excited, so I tried to mirror their excitement. Also, I shed my tears about sending Grace to kindergarten before the actual first day, so the first day went just fine.
Fourth grade!
Kindergarten!
And, the traditional pictures with each parent. Jeff was able to juggle his schedule, again, so that he could be there for the first walk to school. The kids and I love that he does this.
I love this picture with Grace.
And Jonathan is too tall for me to kneel next to him for pictures now.
A very honest picture, right? Benjamin did NOT want to be in the stroller after a summer out of it, and he did NOT want to leave his brother and sister at school. It took him at least a month to stop being down-in-the-dumps about the whole situation. He really misses them - especially Grace - each day.
I love this one.
Grace's teacher had each arriving student put on a name tag and sit down with some Play-Doh. She was happy, and all was well. I did hear, later on, that she got weepy during the morning. Drop off went fine, but apparently, there were about four kids in the class who were crying, and that set her off, too, She recovered quickly, though, and seemed to be fine after that. There was one little boy who cried at drop off every day for the first week. I sure felt badly for him and his teacher…and his elementary-aged sister, who was the one trying to persuade him to stay in his class.
After that first day, we tried adding scooters to the morning mix, and for the first month or two, we always walked with some mix of scooter(s) and stroller. After that, I realized that my back and shoulders were hurting all the time, and I wondered if it was from pushing my gigantic three-year-old in his stroller. And it was. So now, I'm taking a break from the stroller, and we walk sometimes and drive sometimes. I feel a little wimpy driving, after being such a faithful walker at first. But with the way Benjamin loves the journey so much more than the destination. and with the way the kiddos have not been very focused about getting ready to go each morning…it's just "one of those things." And I'm thankful for the driving option when we have a short time to get to and from school. And, yes, the kids seem to be doing well and enjoying school. They both get along with their teachers, and they both won academic awards from their teachers for the first end-of-the-month assembly, so we are proud and thankful.
And, for memory lane...
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