Kindergarten, Here We Come!

My little boy started kindergarten today. It was a much anticipated day in light of our ongoing struggle to secure a public school. We found out this morning that for the fourth time, we did not get the public school of our choice, or any school at all for that matter. So this morning, we sent Greyson to his private school backup. It has been a harrowing, torturous three weeks on my part trying to balance the hoping for a public school, the dreading of the first day of private, and pretending that all is well so Greyson doesn't catch wind of the fact that up until last night, we had absolutely no idea what school he was going to today. Complete insanity without and within.

Our first school morning went smoothly. I had to wake Greyson up at 7am, because our private school is 10 minutes away and starts at an unearthly 8:00am. We live near three public schools that we could walk to with a lovely 8:40am start time, but I digress. Woozy and sleepy-eyed, he peed, made his bed, and sat down for his breakfast of cherries, milk and hummus sandwiches. After breakfast he changed into his school uniform, took some pictures, and then we all piled into our van, Daisy, and drove him to school.









We dropped him off at the crowded school yard, which was intimidating to me, so I can't imagine how he was feeling. However, once he saw his buddy from preschool, he was elated and felt much better. When I picked him up he seemed happy enough, but then had a few mini-meltdowns on our way and at home. I think there was definitely some processing going on. So we had some cuddle time and yummy snacks, and that made things better. Here are the things he had to report to me about school: They didn't get to play today (since it was a short day and there was no recess), there are 100 days of kindergarten, they aren't allowed to touch the red box on the wall (fire alarm), if there is a stranger in the bathroom you are to tell the teacher, and that Mrs Kiss had a lot of important things to tell them today. Not bad for a first day.

My baby boy seemed so grown up today. When we said goodbye, he didn't even flinch. It breaks my heart to think that if we do get our public of choice in the next few months, we might have to pull him from this school that he's starting to like and put him through the ordeal of being the new kid at another school. Honestly, it keeps me up at night. But I cannot think about that. I just have to make today as good for him as I possibly can. That is all I can do. And for a mom who would give up almost anything to keep that smile on his face, it is a hard thing to accept.