I love summer. I really do. Lazy days and adventures. Playing outside and spending a whole day reading a book.
But my true love is Fall. I adore Fall. And with Fall comes the beginning of school.
Our first day of school extended two weeks, with three different first days this year.
Billy started 2nd grade this year.
Ricky headed into 5th grade.
Even though they are three grades apart in school, I’m very thankful these two boys are still such good friends.
Patiently, we waited a full week before Rusty could start kindergarten. We did go in and meet his teacher during that week and he took his kindergarten assessment tests. He is more than ready for kindergarten. Rusty knows his letters, colors, shapes, numbers, he can do the sounds each letter makes and (he wasn’t tested on this) can do simple addition/subtraction problems. The best part of his assessment was his giggling. We adore his teacher and I specifically requested her. When she asked Rusty to count to 100, he started to giggle. Then she began giggling. By the time he was to 70, I could barely understand him for all of his and her giggling!
When I dropped Rusty off on his first day of school, he didn’t look back once. I followed him to make sure he was going to be okay … but there was no need. He went straight to his classroom, passed his teacher who said, “Hi-ya, Rusty!” and hung his backpack up and took his seat. Like he was a pro!
The principal walked into the kindergarten room between me and Rusty and I heard him say to the teacher, “You probably shouldn’t call them Rusty on the very first day …” The teacher laughed and said, “That’s his name! It’s not like I was saying, ‘Hey there, Greaser!'” Again … we love her.
Then it was just over another week before Tommy could have his very first day of preschool. My boys are good about asking “how many more days until …” I thought I’d never get to say, “Zero! We have zero days until everyone starts school!”
At first it was a tiny bit sad not having the boys all around all the time, but it is so nice to have them in a good school with good teachers and good friends. They all seem happy this year. And that makes me happy, too!