First Day of Kindergarten

It.went.great!

All the research and school tours, interviews, applications, meetings, sleepless nights and second, third, fourth and fifth guessing...we picked the right school :-)

Kai was confident and excited to go to Kindergarten today. He jumped in there with the other kids, checking out Gingersnap, the class guinea pig. His wonderful teacher told all the families we could make our plans with our kids about when we wanted to leave. We decided that Mommy and Teia would leave when it was time for Kai to sit at circle. So as Miss Morgan called out "Children, please find a space on the rug!" Kai turned and said "its time for Mommy and Teia to leave." So we gave him a kiss and were sent packing.

Teia was a bit bummed about not being able to stay so I treated her to a trip to the Zoo. Once we got back to pick up Kai we heard that he'd had a great morning. He even comforted a friend who was sad b/c his Dad left. Tonight at bed time Kai told us his friend would be brave tomorrow and not scared anymore. In fact, he talked about Kindergarten quite a bit tonight. All signs of a great day! Kai's teacher Miss Morgan was very impressed with how Kai took the first day in his stride. She told me "if the rest of the year is anything like today, the sky is the limit for Kai." We already knew that but now his teacher does too. Yippeee!!!!!!!! doesn't really describe how that makes me feel but will have to do.

We know there'll be bumps along the way this year and challenges to navigate but as Miss Morgan told all the parents "beginnings are very important" and it seems like Kai is off to a good one.

It was a wonderful day but ended on a bit of a challenging note. Kai fell off our hammock and despite our best child proofing efforts, managing to find the part of the metal hammock stand that is not covered in foam with his brow and will be sporting a boxer's shiner to school tomorrow.

And Music Lion went missing.... Kai made an odd comment to me this afternoon that Music Lion had run away. I didn't think much of it until he was nowhere to be seen at bedtime and Kai wasn't too happy about it. He told Greg he hid ML in an orange tree so Greg and I were out in the dark with flashlights combing our front and back yard looking for the irreplaceable, much molested lion (and hoping to avoid any creepy crawlies). We had just about given up when Greg found him in the kitchen recycling. All is well in our little world.