First Day of Kindergarten

Oh my gracious, people. It was THAT day. The one where you wake up feeling like "today is the first day of the rest of your life," when you look at your 5 year old sleeping soundly in his little bed. Empty Nest, Phase 1. The first day of kindergarten.

Ethan's been in preschool since before he was 3 years old. So in some ways, this should have just been another in a series of his "first days of school" days. But it just felt different. Maybe its because I spent Sunday night getting myself all verklempt over folder after folder of baby pictures on my computer.

squishy toddler cheeeeeeeks!!! Going to kindergarten?!

cranky baby face!!!!! In kindergarten??!!!

little velour track suit baby!!!! In kindergarten???!!!

Yes, yes, & yes, my friends. And of course, no standard first-day-of-kindergarten photo shoot for Ethan; he went for a full-on dance-off and Vogue-ing spree on the front walk way...

Kindergarten Kool

"Who's got two thumbs and is going to kindergarten today?!"

Oh my. And then we drove to school. A 20 minute drive we only have to make a few more times because WE MOVE ON FRIDAY!! EEEEEP!!!

Last year's classes made these bird houses that live outside the schools' main doors. I've never actually seen birds in them, which I suppose makes sense given the hordes of screaming elementary students that run by them eleventy billion times a day. But still. Pretty birdy houses.

Yay!!! I'm embarrassing my kid with kisses!! And so it begins!

When we got into the class room, the teacher had set up a scavenger hunt for all the kids and parents to familiarize them with the different areas of the class room.

We stamped our names at the letter stamp station.

Then we had to go explore the community garden & make an observation about the sunflowers to share in the science nook of the class room.

Ethan's observation about the sunflowers: "They have blue in the middle of them!" which is true if you look really closely. My observations: "These sunflowers are crushed to the ground, dying a slow death. Excellent gardening. I could totally be the class mom gardener if this their benchmark of a successful garden."

Before I left for the next three hours, we also decorated a frame to hold his official "first day of school" picture; cut out, decorated & hung up his birthday cupcake for the calendar & read a story together (about Splat the Cat's first day of school) in the book nook. He whipped himself up into a teary frenzy when it was time for me to leave, complete with having to be gently, but forcibly pried from me while screaming, "Mommmmmmy!!!!" and crying. Fear not. I stood outside the class room for 30 seconds and surely enough the crying ceased the second I was out of sight and never started again. In face, at the end of one minute's time, Ethan and a new friend were running out to the play ground with the rest of the class mates, giggling and shooting at imaginary bad guys with their fingers. The Academy Award winning performances never stop, people.

After school there were cups of melting ice cream to be enjoyed. On the ride home, I asked Ethan what he did in school today & was given his typical cagey "lots of things," response, which is followed by refusal upon refusal to elaborate. Which makes the helicopterer in me twitchy, but the rational part of me thinks, "good for him! He owns it as his and he doens't have to tell me every last thing about his day." This year is going to be all about not neeeeeeeding to know what my special snowflake is doing every minute of every day. :: deep breaths ::

For dinner, Ethan said he wanted to go to "that sushi place we go to," for his special first-day-of-kindergarten dinner. I didn't even know what sushi was when I was 5. Way to be fancy, little man!!

Give the boy some miso soup w/ tofu & sticky rice, and an avocado roll and he's in heaven.

Happy first day of kindergarten, sweet little man. You're such a big boy, but you'll always be my baby. I love you so much more than you'll ever know, Mommy.