Garrett's First Day of Kindergarten

Garrett's first day of Kindergarten started with breakfast with friends and family. Our friends Anna and Emily and their 6 kids were visiting us from Virginia! They all had waffles and juice and waved bye to Garrett as he headed out for his first day of school. Garrett was cool as a cucumber, but I was a bit scattered and nervous. As we were walking out the door, Garrett said, "Wait mommy! Don't I need my lunch?" I had loaded the poor kid with 5 pounds of school supplies, a towel for his rest period, and a sack of goldfish crackers to share with is class, but had completely forgot his lunch. Also, my camera wasn't working properly so I had to borrow Anna's to take a picture of our first journey to school.

We had a pleasant 10 minute walk. The only time I felt emotional was when we walked by Isabela's house. Isabela had her first day on Friday, but she was very aware that Garrett was starting on Thursday and watched for him out her window. Garrett waved to her enthusiastically and said, "Hi Isabewa! I go to school now!" Her support of him and his happiness to see her was a near tear-jerker.

Chris did a great job of talking to Garrett about his day on the way to school. He told him that he would have two teachers and that he would eat his lunch in a bigger room with the other kids. He explained that he should listen to his teacher and not play fighting games. He also told him that he would make lots of new friends and he practiced saying, "Hello, my name is Garrett. Would you like to play with me?"

When we got to school, I couldn't remember if we were supposed to wait outside in the designated triangle, or if we were supposed to take the kids inside. They had said something about doing it differently on the first day. Another mommy decided that we should just try to go inside. We were quickly rerouted by the school secretary. I had the distinct feeling that I was going to be sent to the principals office. Funny how you never shake that feeling. Finally the bell rang and all the kids filed into the building. We waited until everyone was in and then went in ourselves. We introduced Garrett to his teachers and took some pictures. The teachers then cued us to leave by saying, "Ok, boys and girls. Let's all wave bye bye to mom and dad." There was a chorus of goodbye's and then we left, snapping pictures as Garrett faded from view.

After school, Anna and the three girls (Kerrigan, Ella, and Mary) met Garrett on the playground. He was very happy to see us. I said, "Hey Garrett, how was your big day." He said, "Oh fine. Mommy, when they turned those lights out and it was dark and I had a dream that Connor and Aidan got on a plane and I said bye to them and I was sad to see them go home and that's what happened when the teacher made the room dark and I wanted to go home." I said, "Oh, you mean during your rest time? You didn't like the way the room looked." He said, "No I thought it was dark and I had a bad dream." I asked him if he used his towel. He said, "No, cause I forgot it. I didn't have a towel." Man, I sent the towel and he didn't even use it. I made a mental note to email the teacher and say, "What gives? I sent the towel!?" Later I noticed the towel in his backpack. What's up with this towel? Will I have to send it back and forth everyday? I definitely need some clarification on the towel. So then I asked Garrrett, "How was the rest of the day? What did you do first." He said, "Well, first I go into that room and we had a group time. We read a book about special people, like my teacher uses a chair machine. Then we made a picture about being special." I said, "Oh, I see. You're teacher told you that she uses a special chair and then you had to think of ways that you were special. What did you draw?" He said, "I drew myself." I said, "But what did you draw that showed that you are special." He said, "I don't know, mommy. I just draw myself like I was told." Then I asked him, "How was your lunch?" He said, "It was good." I asked, "Did you eat it all?" He said, "Well, no I just ate some of it and then I played." I said, "Oh, well we'll have to see what's still in your lunch box." Then he said, "Also mommy, I had to pee and I thought about it and I thought I think I'll just wait until I get home." I explained that he could ask the teacher about using the bathroom. He said, "Yeah, but I thought I should go at home." Hm.. We'll have to work on that.

When we arrived home we had juice and cookies with all of our visiting friends. Garrett seemed like such a big kid all of a sudden. I told Garrett that I needed a helper to hand out the juice boxes. He said, "Ok mommy, I'll take off the straws and put them in the juice box for all the little kids." Then he turned to the kids and said, "Ok, I gonna help you. I gonna put in those straws and then I'm gonna give you a juice. Okay kids?" It was so cute.

Occasionally throughout the day Mary would ask, "Where's my Garrett?" She's surprised not to see him in the car when I pick her up from her preschool. She will notice that he's not in the house. I think she will start to anticipate our walk to the school and be happy to see him. I have to remember that this is a big transition for her as well. I missed Garrett too. Even with the commotion of having 7 kids in my house that day, Garrett's absence was felt. It was a big "First Day" for all of us.