What?! Jacob is in Kindergarten!??

JACOB'S EXPERIENCES!!

First of all I apologize for the length but what can I say I am a "MOM":)

The title says it all. I can't believe my BABY is 5 1/2 years old and started Kindergarten this week. It truly boggles my mind. He has been so excited for months for this week and he has definitely not been disappointed with the events of the last two days.

Yesterday, they had a Kindergarten orientation for the kids and parents and they did it by the first letter of their last names so we showed up with all the other kids/parents with the A-L last names and learned briefly about what the year would entail and then went to his classroom to talk to his teacher and get acclimated a bit. Jacob's teacher is named Ms. Kemper and she seems very nice and very experienced which I appreciate. The activity she chose to do with the kids was a wonderful one, I thought. She had them all sit on the rug and read them the book "The Kissing Hand". For those of you who have not read it its a wonderful book to read to your young child who is venturing off to school and quite the tear jerker for a mother. It is about a small raccoon scared to go to school. The mommy raccoon kisses the palm of his hand and tells him to press his hand to his cheek and that if he is ever scared that he just has to remember to do that. Then when the little raccoon is all ready for school he stops before going in and gives his mom a "kissing hand". (SOB! -Jeannie this is the book I showed you in the book store) So after the story she told them to give their parents Kissing Hands. How I made it through all that not crying I don't know!

We then took a tour of the school and saw where he will have PE (once a week), Art (once a week) and Music (twice a week). We also saw where the buses take them and their playground. It helped a lot to see where he will be. Here are a few pictures from our trip to the school and of Jacob showing off his backpack which he LOVES. He especially loves his flag patch because it makes his different.



Jacob getting ready to load up in the car to go to school.



Jacob with his "cool" backpack that is the perfect size according to Daddy.



Jacob with his class listening to his teacher read "The Kissing Hand".



Jacob in front of his school sign!


THE BUS!!!

So, yesterday was cake for me compared to today. I have been dreading Jacob's riding the bus for weeks now. Now, the school is maybe a mile and a half from our house, if that. But the thought of putting him on a bus and sending him off (losing control of him basically:) just freaked me out!

Jacob on the other hand all week has been saying "I can't wait for the bus, NO SEAT BELTS" (this of course did NOT help the way I was feeling).

So this morning we got all ready and walked out to the bus stop to wait and there was another little boy there named Isaiah. His mom and I were both very glad there was another kindergartner for them to go together with. The bus came and Jacob did not so much as turn around and wave! The bus had picked up half the neighborhood kids at the childcare center prior to coming to our stop so I hear this chorus of "HI JACOB" as he climbs on the bus. I know that made Jacob feel like he is "IT". As he told me he has a "grandpa driver" in the morning and a "mom driver" in the afternoon. I think his observations are pretty funny. He climbed off the bus grinning from ear to ear so I believe the whole experience was a success. Here are a few pictures of his coming and going on his bus.



Jacob and his new friend (a neighbor not too far away!) Isaiah aka his "bus buddy"



The bus bringing Jacob back! (I was praying he was actually ON it!)



Jacob getting off the bus and while he is not looking you can see the grin on his face.


Jacob said he had a fun day. He said he could not find his teacher at first but a "girl" helped him. (Another teacher or yard duty or something from what I can gather). He said they read a book we had read before and that he sat by our neighbor Kayla (two of our close neighbors are in his class, Kayla and Tyler) he also colored with "smelly" pens which he thinks is just the best thing ever. I have not yet drug out everything else he did.


NATHAN!

So Jacob was off to school which left me and Nathan by ourselves which is a HUGE rarity up until now. My friend Valerie asked if I could watch her girls for a bit so that worked out great. It kept Nathan busy and focused on something other than Jacob being gone.

The kids played playdough and watched a Dora show and we played games.

Here are a few pictures of their fun!




All three of the kids playing playdough



Kinley showing off her snowman



Snuggling and watching Dora

After the girls left Nathan and I made chocolate chip cookie dough together so that Jacob and Daddy could both have treats when they got home from school/work.

All in all so far its been a good experience. I can only hope that Jacob will continue to love going to school and that next month Nathan too will have a great experience starting preschool.