Sunday, August 22, 2010

First Day of Kindergarten

Tuesday, August 17, was Tyler's first day of Kindergarten. We kept trying to tell him how great it was going to be, but when we asked whether he was excited he consistently said, "no."
When we spotted the big yellow bus coming our way, he clung onto me.



I was actually doing okay, until as the bus drove away, I saw him blinking back tears. There was just something about watching him drive away in that big bus, scared of the unknown that I could identify with...and of course I worried all afternoon.

So, when he climbed off the bus that afternoon, I was very happy to hear that he really liked kindergarten.



We told him we thought we saw him blinking back tears as he drove away. He said, "I didn't cry. But my tummy felt like it was going to cry."

We grilled him for details. He really likes his teacher and still thinks she is quite beautiful. He told us, with great excited emotion, all about if he gets 10 green days in a row (no yellow or red days), he'll get to pick something from the teacher's Treasure Chest. And, with dramatic inflection, he told us that if he gets a red day, he will have to see the Priiincipal. I was surprised to see that he had already completed some worksheets and brought home homework.

He brought this picture home he had drawn/colored on the first day.



He explained, "The orange girl fish beat the black girl fish to the boy fish, so she got to marry him. She locked them in a bubble." Later, he added, "The lock is a teleport and it's invisible on the other side. The orange girl fish tricked the black girl fish. She told her they would get married in the afternoon, but they married in the morning."

Oh my, what a complicated story. And what is he doing thinking about marrying girls on the first day of kindergarten? :)

It seems that as of yet, he doesn't know anyone's name. He says his class is SOOO big. And 23 students is very big compared to the 7 that were in his preschool class.

He came home on Friday very happy that even though he's only earned 4 green days, he was already able to pick something from the teacher's Treasure Chest because his whole table was so well behaved that day. Irrelevant is the fact that he picked a book cover, because it looked better than his other options. :)

So far so good. Ahhh, sigh of relief.

5 comments:

Melissa said...

awesome! i couldn't read his face as he walked off the bus -- i bet it was SUCH a good feeling to hear him say he liked it!

Carrie said...

That first video of him leaving and arranging himself in his seat about made me cry!!! :) So glad he is having a good time - hope Gabe will too.

Matt said...

I love that it was the two girl fish fighting over the guy fish. Glad to hear his year is off to a good start.

Renita said...

I think it's harder for us then them. Just thinking about it puts this pit in my stomach. Wonder what our parents went through? I dont' even remember any of my first days. (Matt is in his dream world again where women fight over him all day) haha :)

Carolyn Miller said...

So glad you recorded both going and coming. What a relief to hear him say he liked it. Grandpa loved the fish story.