Grasshopper New Media Presents...

My youngest started kindergarten last month.

Things are going well, though the teachers are finding out just what I meant by, “Warning: He makes his older brother look boring.” They spent all summer chuckling when I said that, little did they know it was an actual warning. Have resisted saying, “I told you so.”

An aside: I know his teachers very well, and, they also taught my two older kids.

So far, it’s been a lot of fun getting to do the kindergarten traditions all over again, I had forgotten so much about it. Especially the part about their “Special Week” which requires providing photos, visits and snacks. Did I mention his week was the second week of school? We had to scramble to find pictures of him that we actually printed. The curse of the third child in a digital age.

There are a number of other “cabooses” (cabeese?) in his class, so it’s chock full of small people who already know the ropes at school. But, being his mother, I still hesitated, wondering how long it would take him to adjust to the routine, if he would behave, if he would make friends, and, if he would speak up if he felt sick or had to go to the bathroom.

Actually, he speaks and speaks (and speaks) about a lot of things, but, sometimes the bathroom thing, not so much.

For the first week or so, I walked him in, and, he was very clingy. Some kids were going in alone from the first day, while others are still being walked in, so he was somewhere in the middle. We eventually transitioned to his older brother and sister taking him in, but, they fought each other so much about it, I’m pretty sure he was on his own at that moment.

He goes in on his own now, meets up with his friends before school, and, hangs out with them on the playground. He’s officially a “guy” now, and, he and his posse play football on the sidelines during his older brother’s games.

He’s still little to me though, and, even though I take him there every day, I have a hard time remembering he’s in grade school. But, it was hammered home to me when he came home the other day and said, “You know? All of my friends have a Webkinz, and, I was wondering…”

[tags]parents, moms, dads, kids, children, school, kindergarten, cabooses, bathroom requests, learning, fun, Webkins[/tags]
Photo of brilliant cuteness graciously provided by the author, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved