Kindergarten

And so, the first day of school has come to a close. There was no crying, no histrionics, no last minute decisions to homeschool. (And Hannah and Liz did great, too!!)

Already, I've learned so much!

The first is that it really doesn't matter WHEN Lizzie has to leave the house, she just likes to dawdle. I thought that afternoon kindergarten would somehow make getting out of the house easier. In preschool I spent at least an hour asking, begging and then yelling at her to HURRY UP. I thought -- oh, misguided Mom that I am -- that having an additional THREE HOURS to prepare for school would be more than enough time and that we'd all enter the car in a happy haze of peace and harmony, singing Kumbaya as we traveled toward the school.


Instead, I gave the girls lunch at 11:30 a.m and planned to leave the house around 12:05 They wanted cheese sticks, jelly on crackers and milk. Hannah managed to finish her lunch and get dressed for school by 11:50 a.m. At 11:50 a.m., Lizzie was still on her second cheese stick and had decided to ask for more jelly crackers. Then she got dressed but decided that the socks she had selected earlier had too many bumps in them. Then she needed to reassess her shoes. Then she wanted me to braid her hair with special hair ties, which she had to find. Then she had to find her backpack, which she now thought was too heavy to carry to school, so I said we'd find a bag to put the school supplies in, and then, once I found the bag, she decided that she wanted to carry the supplies in her backpack afterall.



We did get to the school in plenty of time, but there was no Kumbaya singing.


We get to the school only to find that there was a substitute aide in charge of the drop off and she didn't know what we had been told the procedure was. She was about 107 years old, so I'm sure she knew what to do in 1912, but we were told that the aide would let the kids out of the car at the curb and then we were to drive away. Instead, we all walked the kids to the door where they lined up against the wall. When I asked if this was to be the procedure in future (because then I'd park in the lot instead of at the curb) she said that in future the kids could just open the door themselves and get out and stand in a line against the wall. This is not a bad idea, except that we have child locks on the back doors, so my children CAN'T let themselves out of the car.



We'll see what tomorrow brings!



The girls loved kindergarten although don't ask me what they learned. All I got out of them was that Hannah didn't play with Lizzie like she said she would, but that was okay because Lizzie had her own friends, and that Carver (Hannah's main squeeze from K-camp) has blue eyes and nice shoes. When I asked if they learned anything, they both gave me a horrified look.


Oh, I did find out that they had apples for a snack, with water, and that it's a rule of kindergarten that you can't ask for seconds.



UPDATE: Hannah has told me that the teacher calls her Monahan and she likes it, so she thinks everyone should call her Monahan. I tried it, and she didn't answer me.



The bus brought them home at around 3:40 or so. It was supposed to be 3:21, but it's the first day of school, so I'm sure there were delays. There were seven buses that passed our driveway prior to their bus, so I did a lot of standing and sitting and standing again before I finally gave up and just paced around the bottom of our driveway.



They both came home cranky and hungry but since by then it was almost 4 p.m. and Rob's usually home by 6 it was only a couple hours of whining.



I would like to add that I LOVE afternoon kindergarten. I don't feel like napping as soon as I drop the girls off (well, today at least!) and I think I'll actually be able to get work done. And it's much nicer to walk out to the bottom of the driveway to meet the bus, than to have to drive 20 minutes to pick them up in Pottstown (although their preschool was located near a Dunkin' Donuts AND a McDonalds, so the drive wasn't all bad!!)



So here are the pictures:


This is the official, first day of school photo. Don't they look grown up? (WAAAHHH!!)
Here's the bus as it finally came into sight! It lets the girls off at the end of the driveway, but they have to cross the street in front of the bus. Here they are getting off the bus for the first (official) time. Lizzie forgot her backpack but one of the other kids on the bus reminded her and she ran back to get it. (I was shooting right into the sun, which is why the picture is foggy!)Here are Hannah and Lizzie enjoying their afterschool snack of homemade cookies and milk. They are already excited about getting back to school tomorrow, although tomorrow Lizzie is going to start getting ready at 10 a.m.!!