The Very Beginning

Well, we made it through the first day of Kindergarten without any tears from Joey.  (I, on the other hand was a basket case.)  He was excited, a little apprehensive, and uncharacteristically quiet as I dropped him off.  When the Assistant Principal opened the car door, he slowly climbed out, hoisted his too-big backpack up onto his shoulders, turned around, and with a wave of his little hand said, "Bye Mom!  See you later!"  And I lost it.  I cried and cried and cried.  I even had to go back to the house real quick before heading to work because I couldn't find any tissues in the car to wipe off the ugly black mascara streaks running down my face.  It was horrible.  My heart hurt after saying goodbye to that precious boy.  The crying lasted a good 15 minutes, and then I was OK.  Puffy blotchy eyes for the remainder of the morning, but OK.  I thought about him a million times throughout the day, but knew he'd be just fine.  And he was.

Here we are moments before lift off:

When pressed for details about his day, I got a lot of, "I'm not sure." or, "I don't really remember." So I left it at that.  I knew he'd tell me in his own time.  As the evening wore on Joey was more and more forthcoming as memories of Kindergarten started to emerge.  Here's what I gathered: *Mommy reactions are marked with *asterisks*)

• His class had Gym as a special.  He told me the name of his P.E. Teacher (impressive) and said that there is a stage in the gym, and isn't that silly?  When I asked him what they did in Gym he said nothing because Kindergartners don't know the rules yet. *???*
• I asked him how his lunch was and if he ate it all.  He said he liked the cheese stick and yogurt, and ate all his cheese-its.  He said he had a couple bites of his granola bar and then had to throw it out.  According to Joey, he had to throw it out because Mrs. Harris (his teacher) tells them when lunch is over and if they don't have any more time they have to be done.  *picking up on routines already... I like it.  Wasting food... not so much.*
• He said they have nap time at school.  I asked if he rested on his towel that I sent.  (Which, by the way he was very concerned about... apparently I sent his FAVORITE towel and he doesn't want the school to think it is theirs.) He said he fell asleep because the teacher put a Winnie the Pooh story on to listen to from the "music player thing" and it made him tired.  *heart melt*
• He was able to tell us about 5 or 6 of his classmate's names, and impressed himself that he already knows where his cubby is.
• Lastly, when I was putting him to bed last night Joey said this proudly: "After rest time I felt like coming home but I didn't even cry.  A girl in my class cried cause she wanted to go home, but not me.  I just waited and waited and waited until you came for me."  *tears welled up in my eyes... my sweet brave boy*

And that's about all I know.  I was impressed that he gave some specific details, and really seemed to enjoy himself while taking it all in.  I love this little guy so much, and my heart strings are barely hanging on as we embark on this new journey towards growing up.  Sigh.

By the way, please take a moment to notice the time of this post.... mid-afternoon.  It's been a long time since I was able to peacefully write a blog post during my childrens' waking hours.  But the girls are keeping to themselves; they are actually very busy enjoying all of Joey's toys while he's not around to scream at them. I'll be the first to admit that a break in the sibling squabbling is an HUGE plus to my little guy going off to school.  Now we're off to pick him up.  Let the fighting commence!