First Day of Kindergarten

Today is the First day of school and that means the first day of kindergarten for my 5 year old. I walked both kids down to the bus stop. I took a few pictures. I came home and had some coffee, checked some emails and stared my cleaning. First on my list of chores was to go through the pile of school papers that had been sitting in the drawer all summer. Yes, that would be the pile of papers from last school year. And while I'm not admitting to anything here, it may or may not have included a few papers from my second graders preschool days. Ahem... Anyway, first let me just offer an explanation or excuse for why I put this off for so long. (Those of you with school age probably use this same excuse.) You can't go through these papers with kids in the house. They want to keep everything. You can't throw away any of the 10 pages where they practiced writing the number one. Each paper is very important to them. Or the 26 pages or leaf rubbings. So you keep them in a drawer until the kids are gone and then you pick a select few to keep and toss the remaining 2.5 billion into the recycling bin.

While I'm sorting through the papers from last year (like I said, I'm not admitting to having papers from 3 years ago) the phone rings. It's my friend who also has a child starting kindergarten today. She calls to tell me that she forgot to send her child to school with the tag that has her bus information on it. You know, the tag that the school printed up, laminated, sent home a week ago and requested that kindergartners where it to school every day for the first two weeks. How cold she forget?!

I look down on the counter. There is my child's tag too. Oops. I guess I'll be stopping by the school to drop it off. After I finish sorting through the rest of the school papers.

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Another Proud Parent Moment

Last night I took both of my kids (ages 5 and 7) to the kindergarten orientation at my son's school. Myhusband was still at work. We sat at a table with 2 other kindergartners and their families. The school served pizza and salad for dinner. It was hot day (almost 90 degrees) and I was happy not to have to cook. My kids were wearing shorts and sandals.

During dinner my 7 year old turns to me and says, "Mom, guess what I can do."

I didn't attempt a guess. "What?"

"I can pick up the cheese from my pizza that fell on the floor with my toes."

Proud Parent moment #374 is brought to you by Pizza Hut.

Graduations

I never used to be like this. I always thought graduations were boring and cheesy. I didn't even go to my own college graduation. So why was it so hard to hold back tears at my son's kindergarten graduation and even at my younger son's preschool graduation, and he wasn't even graduating! We were there to watch the class ahead of him graduate (it's a Japanese preschool and it's a Japanese custom for the class that will be taking the place of the graduating class to sing at the graduation (that is one long sentence!)). So I really had no reason to cry (well, I actually didn't cry, but almost!) at the preschool graduation. Especially since my son didn't even go on stage. He started crying and the rest of his class went on stage to sing while he stayed in front of the stage with the teacher. So I really had no reason to get emotional. A little angry maybe, but not emotional.

The kindergarten graduation was even harder. I've been volunteering in the classroom almost every week and I've gotten to know the kids there pretty well and it's sad to think that this is the end of that class. Next year they'll all be mixed up in 3 different first grade classrooms. And somewhere along the road it became difficult to watch my baby growing up. Does that mean I'm getting old? Am I turning into one of those moms??? I really have no idea how this happened. Really, I was never like this before... Never! *sighs*

What I learned in Kindergarten

Yesterday I helped out in my son's kindergarten classroom. The kindergarten classroom next to his had some papers hanging on the wall that the kids made. The papers were titled, "What I learned in kindergarten." Here are a few of my favorites:

I.lernd.how.to.rite

I lrnde hot to red

I lrnd how to reed.

I lrnd letters.

I lrnd to read.

I lernd singing.

I lrnd how too bee the best lin leedr.

I lernd evethig.

Those were so cute!

Also, just to keep updated, the corn cupcakes we made yesterday didn't win any prize in the cake contest :( We'll have to come up with something even more painstaking clever for next year!

Happy May Day!

Happy First day of May aka May Day! Today my kindergartner made a paper flower wreath at school. He was so proud of it. We hung it on the door at home. He went outside to play and picked a flower for me because it is May Day. He picked the only tulip in the yard that had bloomed. How sweet! I know he meant well, but shouldn't someone have known better than to teach kindergartners about giving flowers for any reason?! Well, at least May Day still makes a good enough reason to celebrate. So I baked brownies today. And I don't mean with the help of Betty Crocker. I made these from scratch! I even had to go to the store and buy cocoa powder for these! I didn't have the right size pan and I forgot to flour the pan before pouring the batter in, but you can't really go wrong when you mix chocolate, sugar, butter and eggs and then put chocolate icing on top. They are delicious! A few are still left on the counter, so feel free to help yourself ;)

This morning I volunteered at my son's school. I have no idea why anyone would want to become a kindergarten teacher. 19 kids age 5-6 all day long?! That is crazy! I can barely handle my own two kids. His teacher is wonderful. I get to sit in the back for a few hours and cut things out, fill up folders and count papers. When I came home, I did some chores and painted my toenails. I am ready for sandal season to begin. The calendar may say its May, but it still feels like March around here :(