First Day of School, basically a novel

I have TWO KIDS in school!  I can't believe it.  I don't know what to do with myself.  

We recently moved to the Des Moines area, as most of you know, and Everett and Ashley have been anxious to go to school and make some friends.  We were planning on going to the school we can see from our backyard, but we found out their (five!) kindergarten classes filled up back in February.  The choices were to put each child in a different school (crazy) or have them both go to a school that is farther away but just barely under the 2 mile qualification for the bus route.  

So we chose to send them both to the farther school.  Next year we will switch them again.  The city we live in is growing too fast to keep up with the schools.  Many of the elementary schools here are less than four or five years old but people keep moving here and filling the buildings up.  A new school is due to be finished by next year which will alleviate a bit of the stress on the city's education system.

I do appreciate that the city caps the class sizes at 25.  It is much better than trying to throw 40 kids in a classroom and expect them all to learn.

But, this is an inconvenience, to be sure.  We will get over it.  I don't have anyone to carpool with because we don't live in the school's boundaries, so I am spending 20-30 minutes dropping off and the same later in the day to pick up, and trying not to look longingly through our backyard at the neighborhood school .  All in the name of education, right?

OK.  On to the kids.  They are the most important part of this post.

Ashley is in Kindergarten this year!  Kindergarten is the hardest transition for me.  I am not worried about Ashley.  She is reading and doing math and will be great academically.  She has blossomed socially and is excited to make friends.  

It is hard for me to send her away because we had such an enjoyable year last year.  Almost every activity we did was mutually enjoyable.  She is old enough to carry on fun conversations with and loves art and crafts, and riding her bike and running around and having tea parties and nursing her little stuffed animals.  I will really miss her.  But I can't keep her home just for my entertainment, so off to school she went without looking back.

I only cried in the car on the way home.  It was sad, and pathetic, but I did feel a little better after I had shed a few tears.

Ashley fell in love with this purple and turquoise backpack with twin kitties on it.  It is so her.  She couldn't wait to bring it to school, and she was thrilled to discover that another little girl in her class has the same one.

We always do thumbs-up and thumbs-down about our days, and Ashley couldn't think of anything negative to report.  She did say she was excited to have made some friends.  "Do you know their names?" I wondered.  "Uh. . . no. . .oops," Ashley replied.  I told her that was perfectly ok and I was glad she had a nice time.

Now Everett, my exciting boy, is in First Grade!  I can't believe it.  He is very proud.  He earned all green faces for good behavior last year and he is anxious to do the same this year.  (This school has a different type of reward system, but he's excited about it anyway.)

He is going to do great.  His kindergarten teacher said he was friends with everyone in his class and could really get along with anyone.  First grade will likely be the same story.  Everett is reading quite well, even though he loves to rush through the story and hates when we ask him to slow down to sound out words.

His main goal in kindergarten was to be the first one done with his work, every time.  His teacher sometimes had to send him back to do it again.  "He is very smart and always gets it correct, but sometimes I have to remind him to make it less messy," she told me at a parent-teacher conference.  I just laughed.  Those of you who know Joel's competitive side are probably laughing, too.

I am curious to see if he does the same thing this year!

At the start of the school year, Everett's favorite books are: Cam Jansen--the young version for him to read and the older version for me to read, anything Star Wars, Roald Dahl books, and anything that is super-duper easy for him to read (aka get done fast).  I am interested in seeing how this changes throughout the year as he discovers more books.

He is still using the same backpack with the fold-out cape.  He went through a few months last year when he refused to wear the cape out after a girl told him she liked it, but he is over that now.  We will see how long he lasts this year.

Everett has very proudly been explaining school to Ashley and loves to walk her to her class.  Someday when they are both older and don't want to hang out anymore, I will remind them of this.  

William and I put together the traditional "Happy First Day of School" rice krispie treat cake to surprise the school kids with, which is, like, the easiest cake ever.  It is also less messy to pack leftovers of this kind in lunchboxes.

William and James really missed Everett and Ashley.  James and Everett have an especially close relationship.  Everett loves to get him out of bed in the morning and make James's breakfast of choice, bread and peanut butter.

"Eh-eht, Mama?"  James kept asking me throughout the day.  Occasionally he would ask about "As-hee" too.  

William said several times to James, "I just want to give Everett and Ashley a big hug.  Do you want to give Everett and Ashley a big hug, James-y??"  

"Yeah. . ." James would respond soberly.

"Me too, kids," I'd chime in, uninvited.  Me too.

Everett and Ashley's school is doing a healthy kids initiative, which means they have discontinued using treats as a reward.  Instead, they give out tickets for positive behavior, and at the end of the day each class draws a ticket and that child gets a prize, such as bringing a stuffed animal to school, choosing an item from a treasure box, or something similar.  I have to say, my kids are much more excited about these prizes than they would be about getting a piece of candy.  

I think both their teachers will be great.  Everett's is young and energetic, and is the sweet, pretty type that little boys tend to have crushes on.  Ashley's is all about hands-on learning and exploration, which will be great for her even though she is totally a cut-and-paste kind of girl.

And this morning during drop-off I couldn't help but smile as the kids hugged me, kissed me, blew kisses at me, and then shouted "I love you Mommy!" from the school doors.  I'm going to enjoy this while I can before the thrill of going to school wears off for all of us.  Think we can make it another week before that happens?