Day one, a success

You would think that our children had been going to kindergarten and preschool for ages. There were no tears this morning. No children hanging onto pant legs, needing a push to step away from their parents. The day started with the most wonderful family snuggle. Bean was up at 6:15am to use the bathroom, waking Schmoo up in the process. She came and crawled into bed for a big snuggle and Bean joined us for a family snuggle. We had lots of time this morning, which made the start to the day a joy. We all had a shower and got cleaned up. I made the kids french toast for breakfast and they even had a chance to play for a bit. There were no requests for TV as we had discussed earlier in the week that there would be no TV on school mornings. I got the kids organized for their back to school photo in the front yard before we left. Seeing them standing together, with flowers in hand brought tears to my eyes. So little, yet so grown up.

Bean didn't even think twice about his new school. We got there at 8:30am, with lots of time for transition. I took him to the bathroom, to show him the cool little boy urinals he could do a stand-up pee at. His friend H was there. She was the security blanket he needed. He shyly gave his teacher the carnations that we had bunched up to give to the teacher. My hopes of them taking sweet peas from our garden didn't quite pan out as not enough of them had flowered by this morning. Schmoo showed Papa the guinea pig that they had gotten last year for the class. I talked to the teacher and H's mom a bit and then we kissed Bean good-bye. He hardly even lifted his head. I spoke to D a bit later and she said that she had stayed for another 15 minutes to make sure H's transition went well. She said that the two of them had played happily together, chatting away about what to do next. I'm sure they'll be inseparable the days they are at school together.

Schmoo's start at kindergarten was a bit more tentative. We took a picture outside the school and met one of her friends, M on the sidewalk. They were both pretty quiet walking into the school yard where there were tons of kids running around, playing on the playground. I didn't get a picture, but it was crazy to watch Schmoo watching all the kids. The bell rang and all the returning kids grabbed their backpacks and headed for the door. Schmoo just stood and watched and then picked up her backpack, motioning for us to take her to the door too. We found her coat hook and settled her stuff and then said our good-byes. I tried to take a few more pictures, but she wasn't interested. She wasn't sad, just cautious. She found her name on the floor for circle and we snuck out the side door. We went upstairs to visit the woman who runs the before and after school care where Schmoo will go before school on Monday to Thursday mornings when I'm working. That will be the next place to introduce when we take her to school on Friday.

Papa and I headed into town for a coffee / breakfast break together before he headed off to work. It was great for him to see the kids off on their big days too and for him to see where he'll need to take them in the mornings. I spent the next hour in town walking around doing some errands before heading back up the hill to Schmoo's school. I sat with a couple other kindergarten moms chatting until the kids came out at 11am. They only go for a couple hours on Wednesday and Friday this week and will start their regular routine of Monday to Friday mornings next week. They all came racing out with happy faces and spent 10 minutes on the playground before I called to Schmoo that we had to leave to pick up Bean. She was flying high, talking about how great school was!

Bean was outside on his playground when we arrived. He too had had a great morning. We gathered up his stuff and went into town for a bakery lunch, as promised. I had picked them each up a cherry lollipop to celebrate the first day of school so they were sticky and red-tongued by the time we got to the bakery. We ran into Bean's friend F and his mom and sister on the street, so they joined us too. His mom, A and I coordinated ourselves for a big hike that we've been trying to organize and hope to do on Sunday. We finished lunch and headed back home to find Papa who was working at the house to give him the first day debrief.

We had a pretty quiet afternoon. Schmoo had a big snooze, tired from her big day. I thought Bean would sleep too but he didn't. He was quiet for a bit and then we fought through the door from another 1/2 hour before he was allowed out of his room. I managed to sneak in 1/2 hour before he started yelling. I had an awful sleep last night so was feeling pretty tired myself. Schmoo suggested the park after she got up so the three of us went down to the big park for an hour. Schmoo managed to find two friends to play with while we were there, including her friend M who was in her kindergarten class today. We headed home to find Papa back from work. He spent some time outside with the kids and their bikes while I got supper organized. They both ate all their dinner so there was ice cream for dessert. It was pretty cute to watch them after dinner playing "school" together. They walked around with their new winter coats on and pretended they were going to school. They're such good friends. They both settled pretty easily tonight, although Schmoo is still rummaging around from having a big nap.

Today was a great day. Already I'm feeling a little less nervous about the big change ahead next week when I start work. It was great for Papa to see the schools and start to get a feel for things. Friday will be a big day when we take the kids early. I know they'll both do great again. Tomorrow will be a nice transition day. The last morning exercise class for me with both kids for the time being.