his first day.

he has been waiting and waiting and WAITING for kindergarten to start.  pretty much as soon as the last day of preschool ended, he’s been asking, “is it time for me to go to kindergarten yet?”

three months ago, we scoped out the schools in our area and decided we liked one campus over another, so i got him transferred, registered, and enrolled for school, and even got to request which teacher we’d like for him.

two months ago, we bought his school uniform in all the various flavors and approved colors– long sleeve, short sleeve, pants, shorts, sweatshirt.  i just like knowing the boy’s got options.  we also got him brand new shoes for school too.  dark blue light-up ones.  with velcro.  he loves getting new shoes.  his sisters got new shoes too since they were along for the ride.  it was phil’s pleasure to get his kids the shoes they wanted but he concluded that kids are dang expensive these days.

last month, he and i made a special trip to the store to pick out a brand new, full-size backpack for him.  he chose a star wars hologram one that makes a funny squeaky scratchy noise when you run your fingernails on it.  he loves that backpack.  it’s almost as big as he is.  i put it in the closet for safekeeping after we brought it home.  then promptly forgot i had put it there.  i seem to be so forgetful lately…

last week, he got his first ever piece of mail in the mailbox.  it was a postcard from his new kindergarten teacher welcoming him to her classroom.  it had her smiley picture on it.  he taped it up on the wall next to his bed so he could “look at it every day.”

three days ago, i concluded the backpack was lost since i had searched high and low and couldn’t find it.  i resigned myself and him to having to use last year’s preschool backpack until we found it.  but, but, i so wanted pictures of him with his huge new backpack on the first day of school!  sigh.

yesterday, i went to his classroom for the kindergarten informational meeting.  i sat in his little assigned seat and peeked inside his brand new blue pencil box that had his name on it.  the teacher had picked out different colored boxes, and i was so happy he got a blue one since that’s his favorite color.  there were brand new pencils, crayons, and a fresh pink eraser sitting inside.  it smelled like the first day of school.  i so wished i had brought my camera to take a picture of that pencil box.

last night, daddy our hero found the backpack sitting in a dark corner of the closet.

and this morning, my little guy went off into the big wide world for his first day of kindergarten!

but not without a special first-day-of-school breakfast first!  fresh from the oven cinnamon sugar muffin and milk.  complete with cowlick.

see?  it is a rather large backpack.  his teacher calls it kindergarten-size.  it was empty inside.

first order of business– hang up empty backpack and extra-full lunchbox.

next order of business, meet his new teacher!  i think they’re gonna get along just fine.  🙂

then it was time to line up to go into his brand new classroom!

sneaking a peek inside…

finally, it was time to wave goodbye to the parents.  see that hand sticking up above the third girl from the left’s head?  that’s my boy!

one last goodbye kiss.  mmm…

mwah!

the girls and i went a little early to pick him up.  we spotted him on the playground and he soon spotted us back.  he called out, “MOMMY, I MADE A NEW FRIEND!  IT’S HIM!”  he was pointing at the head of the boy behind him as he was yelling to me.  that made the other early parents laugh.  and made me extra proud of my boy.  i love how he makes friends so easily wherever he goes.

once we got home, he reported that he had a fun time in kindergarten, but he didn’t remember what he learned.  he just had fun.  and can’t wait to go back tomorrow!