First Day of Kindergarten

Well, here it is folks, the BIG DAY... the first day of Kindergarten. Joey was up and ready to go. I, on the other hand was a little more than stressed, sad, and well absolutely terrified. I was not sure how in Gods green earth I was going to take my son, the child I hardly ever am away from, the baby who I held for each nap the first year of his life and drop him off for 6 hours at a school where I don't know anyone. I was petrified of many things, him not eating his lunch and being hungry or even worse with 100 degree temps, not drinking enough and getting heat stroke (Don't even say it, I know, totally silly) worst of all I was terrified of bullies and mean teachers. As many of you know and saw, I was pressuring Joey to be home schooled and we DID try it over the summer, and although he did and has always excelled at schoolwork... Bill and I both could see something was missing... Joey is just a highly social child. And the first day of school and every day since is proof of that, he comes home very happy, content and excited. He just LOVES being around all kinds of people.

With this said, my fears were realized and Joey has what I will call a "mean" Music Teacher. For starters let me say, how can you be mean to MY SON in MUSIC, a five year old who has memorized over 280 measures this summer alone (only the 12 yr olds have memorized more in his Piano school) and can sit down and play such beautiful music. However, knowing him, I have no doubt he WAS talking and he admitted to me that he was. But, Time Out for A 5 yr old on his first day EVER of school may be a little harsh and humiliating. I had a nasty letter all ready to go to him (to be quite honest I was so mad I could have been very mean), but I talked to Bill and Joey, together we all agreed to give it one more week. More importantly I thought it through and as much as I would like to, I cannot protect Joey from mean people and doing so would be a handicap for him later in life. Part of school is learning to deal with different personalities. If I step in too quickly now, how will he ever deal with that horrible Boss he is bound to have in the future. So only time will tell...as I write this Joey should be headed to Music, I pray that the Teacher is kind (God help him if he is not, my Zen attitude may change very quickly) and that Joey follows all the rules, as he should. Okay, now onto my beautiful boy ; )

All ready to go with his rhino shirt and cool flame chucks

Walking with all the big kids

He needed both hands for his lunchbox...I have since let-up on the five course lunches, teehee

Here we go, at his classroom

At his table and ready for Mom to stop with the pics already!!

BTW, Joey was chosen as the first student of the week, we spent this weekend making an "All About Me" poster and he got to take in his favorite things ; )