Continuing the Journey

Two Down, Two To Go...

Today, Carson, Daddy and I went to Carson's first day of Kindergarten. Well, actually, it was Kindergarten Phase-In Day -- basically a quick run-through to get the kids ready for the real thing next week. Hard to believe this Little Man of ours is already going to Kindergarten!

Our first stop at Phase-In Day -- after the Principal made her opening remarks in the cafeteria to the whole group -- was to get some one-on-one time with Carson's teacher, Mrs. Kuhn. (We have been practicing her name for weeks and he STILL struggles to remember it!) She started off by taking his picture for the classroom door and then, for some reason...
...took a picture of him with Mommy and Daddy. Dork that I am, I had my camera with me and asked her to take the same pic with my camera. (Hey, people, we're making memories here!) She happily obliged, then also happily allowed me to take a pic of her...
...with Carson. She was a bit shocked when she sat down for the picture and Carson climbed right onto her lap. Sorry, Mrs. Kuhn, but he IS a ladies' man!

We talked with Mrs. Kuhn about Carson's physical issues and also about the reasons he is behind on reading and writing, etc. (You know...the whole only-been-in-America-for-22-months thing.) She asked him to write his name as a quick "test." He seemed to struggle a bit at first, but when I showed him that Mrs. Kuhn had already written his name at the top of the paper and he could copy it, he did great. Not only did he write his name fairly legibly, but he named every letter before he wrote it. (I didn't know he could do that.) Mrs. Kuhn was shocked at how well he did -- both with writing and with letter recognition -- and said he has NOTHING to worry about. Our Little Man is Kindergarten ready!

The next stop on Phase-In Day was Bus Safety...Carson's favorite part! They had two buses in front of the school and the kids had to practice watching for the bus driver's hand signals and then crossing a street safely. To Carson...
...that part was BORING! Blah-blah-blah...he wanted on that bus!
Finally! We all got on the bus -- kids and parents -- and got some more safety tips from the bus driver. Honestly, I was thinking, "Do you think these kids are going to remember ALL of this information?!" Carson was getting very itchy in his seat near the front -- they made the parents sit in the back so the kids would be up front and could pay attention -- and when we got off the bus after the presentation, we found out why. His first words to me when we got off the bus were, "I thought we were gonna RIDE the bus!" Poor little guy...they could have at least driven the kids around the parking lot!

After the building tour, Carson was aggravated again. Can you believe a Kindergarten tour didn't include a tour of the playground?! Well, we asked our guide helper where they would have recess and made sure to find it...and he was not disappointed! They have very nice playground equipment and he was duly impressed.

One down, three to go.

After coming back home from Kindergarten Phase-In and grabbing a quick (and very late) lunch, I headed off to MY first day of school.

Nobody took my picture or anything.

I left extra early, found a parking space, and eventually found the correct building. Even though I just finished my Bachelor's Degree last summer, I still feel super rusty and not ready to take classes again. (Could be the whole only-been-home-from-China-for-10-days thing.) Anyway, this class doesn't seem all that horrible and I think I'll survive.

Two down, two to go.

The day after tomorrow, Meggie starts 11th grade (yikes...is she REALLY that old already?!) and Molly -- whether she likes it or not -- will be heading to her first official day of preschool. (Pray for her preschool teacher, folks...it's gonna be a ROUGH day!) Then we'll all be officially back in school and, hopefully, on the road to a routine again!

I think I need a nap...