1st Day of Kindergarten

Andrew was very excited to finally get to go to "the big school" with Clark.  There was only one thing he was worried about...that it might be such a long day and he might want to take a nap because he might get tired.  Andrew is a little quieter, a little more pensive, and a little more steady in his outward display of his emotions.  In short, Clark is like me, and Andrew is like Tanner.  My friends and I stood around a kitchen island while Clark and Andrew were eating a bowl of cereal and my friends were peppering them both with questions.  Clark was super chatty and just full of detail and emotion, and every time Andrew got asked a question, he answered it, but it was short, quick, and to the point with little fanfare.  We thought the difference was so stark and so funny and at one point my friend exclaimed, "this is just like having a conversation with Tanner and Cherylyn!" So true.

 I didn't worry as much about Andrew going to school as Clark...not being the oldest, he has the advantage of seeing his older brother in action and knowing what to expect.  I had fun getting my boys up together this morning.  In years past, Andrew would usually sleep in and wake up after Clark had already left for school.  They had fun eating breakfast together with Clark telling him some of the rules of school and how the worst thing that could happen to anyone at the school is to get sent to the principals office so don't do this, that, and this other thing.  Andrew walked out to get on the bus as if this is what he does every day, except that he stopped before he stepped on, turned around, and gave me a wave.

Because we live across the street from the school, I ran over to the school to meet the bus, and because of traffic, etc., I beat them by a few minutes and so I was able to get some pictures of them getting off the bus.   Clark was explaining more rules about how until 7:20am, everyone has to hang out in a designated area behind a yellow line, "just like at the airport where they check our passports...remember mom??"  Clark walked Andrew down to his class and I followed behind my two little towheads.  That was the one part that got me a little emotional was seeing both of them walk down the school halls together.  Andrew found his classroom, Clark said bye and rushed off to meet up with his friends, Andrew pulled the door open, gave me another wave and a "bye mom!" and he was good to go.

I spent the rest of the day playing with Audrey.  We went swimming at the club, she hung out on the tennis court while I had my lesson and she made sure to tell me to "be careful" every time I hit the ball in the net.  Hilarious.  We had such a fun time together, just us girls, but we were also excited to see the boys get off the school bus this afternoon and hear about their day.  The first thing Andrew said to me after he ran up to me was "Mom, it was so fun, I didn't even get TIRED!"  He already has a "best buddy" that he met today, and is excited for more fun tomorrow.  Yahoo for school!

1st Day of 2nd Grade

Clark started school today and he was pretty excited to go.  His teacher this year is Ms. Tseng and we have heard nothing but wonderful things about her.  Clark and I got up together at 6:15am, and while he got dressed, I went down and made him his favorite breakfast:  Eggs, Bacon, and Toast with milk to drink.  He ate it on the "Special" plate and was ready to go meet up outside with his best friend Annie before they had to get on the bus.  I made him take some pictures, and every year it surprises me how much he has grown up.  Sometimes it is difficult to notice the changes when you are doing the parenting thing day in and day out 24/7, but I think that is why I like specific milestone days like the first day of school, because it is easier to compare how they were last year on the same day to how they are now and see the growth.

Sometimes I worry about Clark on days like today because he is so much like me.  I remember times  while growing up building up specific events in my head, and then when they didn't turn out quite like I imagined or if I ended up having a bad experience when I was expecting or had planned for a good one, it would really do a number on me emotionally.  I don't know, maybe everyone is like that...but I see that part of myself in him a lot.  However, he got off the bus this afternoon all smiles and had nothing but good things to say about his teacher and school.

I had written him a love note and drew a funny picture on it and put it in his lunch box.  I thought it was weird for him that he didn't mention it at all, and when I brought it up, he was like uh, yeah that was funny.  I finally learned why as I was tucking him and Andrew into bed tonight, and I said "I am glad you had a good day today."  He said "Yeah, it was good, except when a couple of kids stole my note from you and started laughing at me because of what it said...but it was my own fault, I should have just kept the note to myself and not shown it to anyone...I had only wanted them to see the funny picture you drew."  I almost burst into tears, I felt so bad.  I am not sure if this was the best parenting moment for me (aka no judging), but I said to him "you know why those kids were laughing at my love note to you?" and he said "Why?" and I said "Because maybe they were wishing their mom had written a love note to them in their lunch today." He said "Do you know that because you learned that at Mom school?" And I said "You Betcha."  I asked him if he wanted any more notes or not from me, and he said "I will like any notes you want to put in my lunch any day you want to send them, Mom."  One of the many reasons this experience was so precious to me, is because I realized that if this had happened to Clark a year or two ago, this incident would have probably caused a royal meltdown at school, but it didn't now, and he said he just grabbed the paper back and shoved it into his lunch box even though people were still asking to see it.  I am just happy that at least today, Clark handled himself well through an unpleasant experience that should have been a pleasant one...and really experiences like this are at least half the battle of life, right?