A New Chapter In Life

Holdyn had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. He was very excited to go! I packed his lunch and snack the night before, signed all of the paperwork we had to send in, and got all of his school supplies together and filled his bookbag so we would be ready to go!

He is growing up and so handsome!

He was so proud to lead the way and walk us to his classroom. We had practiced on 'Open House Night'. We were only allowed to walk him in on the first day. From now on, he will be on his own walking in, but there are plenty of teachers stationed throughout to help them find their way if they get lost! His room is on the main hall and easy to find so I think he will do great!

We got to his room, learned where to store his lunch and snack, his teacher took all of his school supplies out, and he put his book bag where it will go everyday. He sat down and had a little coloring assignment while all the children were arriving. He got to work right away! We gave our hugs and kisses goodbye and told him we would pick him up that afternoon. He was very confident and didn't care that we were leaving! Yay! It put my heart at ease and made me happy that he was comfortable with the transition, so there were no tears from mommy! 

After school, we had made plans and told him we were going to the ice cream store for a 'back to school' treat as soon as we picked him up and he was very excited! His favorite flavor is 'Spiderman' !

That afternoon, we got in the carpool line to pick him up. A teacher (not his) walked him over to the car and put him in and shut the door. I turned around to ask him all about his day and how much fun he had. My first glance of him was a beat red face and red blood shot eyes. I could tell he had been crying. My heart stopped. I asked him what in the world was wrong? He started to sob and said "Ya'll abandoned me." My heart burst in to 10 million pieces and I had to turn my face away from him so he wouldn't see me crying. It hurt my heart SO bad to think that my child would EVER think anyone (much less his mommy and daddy) would abandon him. I semi compossed myself and we explained to him that we would NEVER leave him and he would never be left and we would always pick him up. He went on to explain to us that the buses left full of kids and then that is when he obviously got upset (I guess the buses leave before carpool starts). I guess he thought when the buses left with kids on them, he thought that everyone rode the bus home to get to their mommy and daddy... even though we told him we would pick him up! (even though there were other kids with him in the carpool line!) We asked him who took him to the carpool area and what teacher was with him waiting in the carpool area. He said Mrs. W (the assistant in his room) took his group to the carpool line, but she then left the room. He was in a room with a lot of kids and several teachers who he didn't know. That obviously upset him since neither of his 2 teachers (that he seems to be comfortable with now) were there.... just teachers that he didn't know. I felt SO bad for him. Something very simple for most people turned in to a traumatic situation for him.

He wants to try to ride the bus on Monday. He will ride with kids from only our neighborhood and he knows most of them, and his best friend, Santiago rides the bus so I know that will make him excited (They probably won't be able to sit next to each other because they get in to too much trouble together!!). I told him we could try it on Monday to see how he liked that, then we would decided permanently if he would be a car rider or a bus rider. He seemed more at ease with that. Robbie and I think maybe if he rides the bus, he won't feel 'abandoned' since the buses leave first. We will test it out and see what happens!

 I do still plan to send a note in to his teacher on Monday to let her know what happened Monday afternoon. If he is a permanent car rider, or if he ever is a car rider, whichever teacher walks him to the carpool line and if they leave, they need to go and tell him that they are leaving, and mommy and daddy will be there very soon to pick him up (and maybe point out a certain teacher that he can go to if he has a question or is worried) and that she would see him tomorrow in class! I think his teacher leaving the room and not telling him she was leaving really got to him. I'm not sure if anyone tried to comfort him in the carpool line, but he was obviously very upset (and we picked him up 25 minutes early!)

He cheered up pretty quickly when we reassured him of everything. We looked through his bookbag and found his behavior chart for the day. He got all stars and did WONDERFUL!! From what he told us, it seems like he had a great day at school and told us a few things he did and a few of his favorite things. I am thankful that the actual school day went well!

We then headed straight to the ice cream store like we promised and he was back to his normal self. I was still beyond emotional so no pictures from the ice cream store, but he had a great time and ate his whole bowl!

Hopefully getting home on Monday on the bus will make him feel better, and if that's the only 'glitch' we have temporarily, then I think we are doing 'OK' ! We will get it worked out and have a final decision regarding transportation after he gets home on Monday :)