Back To School: Round Three
This "back to school" series seems as if it'll never end, eh? Just wait. It's not done yet.
Seriously, why can't all of the kids just go back to school on the same day without all the pomp and circumstance? I'll have to confirm with my mother, but I'm pretty sure that my first day of kindergarten started by my mom sticking me on a bus and waving good-bye. I highly doubt that there were any orientations or half days or soft starts like we have today. In fact, now that I think about it, there was nothing soft about my first day of school. Home video will support me because it shows that I had to mount those enormous bus steps wearing an elaborate FULL LENGTH dress with a ruffled bib and high collar. Way to stack the deck against me, Mom.
Anyway...after all the build-up, Kellan's first day of kindergarten finally arrived!
He was completely ready, sort-of excited, and not at all worried about a thing. Good thing ignorance is bliss because I almost made him miss his very first bus! I swear I remember reading that his pick-up time would be 12:33, so this morning we departed the house to run errands with that time in mind. We grabbed lunch and as I drove towards home, I prided myself on being nearly a half hour early for pick-up time. Upon our arrival I instructed Kellan to use the bathroom, wash his hands and get his backpack while I looked for the camera. In that tiny window of time, both kids decided that they needed to poop, and it was during this rotation that fate threw me a big ol' favor and somehow nudged me to double-check the letter from the transportation department. Actual pick-up time? 12:13! Time on the clock when I made this discovery? 12:10. AAAAAAACCCCCCCKKK!
Cue the "Benny Hill", people-running-in-hyper-fast-motion calliope music. I all but yanked Kellan off the toilet and threw him against the front door where I took a surprisingly normal series of photos to commemorate this major milestone.
From bathroom to backpack in 3.2 seconds!
Too cool for school. Me on the other hand? I was sweating buckets. BUCKETS.
Poor Riss had no choice but to gamely follow along. Being that this was her third day of experiencing the thrill of "back-to-school", I think she figured out that moving fast and asking no questions was the safest course of action. I don't know how, but miraculously she made it out to the bus stop with us.
"It's straight up craaazy around here, ya'll!"
Once 12:13 had come and gone, I suspected that the bus was going to be late, so we relaxed a bit and enjoyed standing around in the blistering noonday sun. For 5 years now Kellan has watched his siblings catch the bus and seen them hang their backpacks on this random road marker as they waited, so I'm pretty sure this was a highlight for him.
NOW it's official.
Suddenly it actually was 12:33 and there was still no bus. I made a nervous phone call to the bus company, afraid that somehow the three clocks I looked at on the dash out of the house were all somehow 5 minutes slow and we had in fact, missed the bus. The dispatcher radioed the driver, who appeared around the bend just as she told me, "He's almost there."
Running late. A bus after my own heart!
Apparently all the other kindergarten parents were so on the ball that they arrived early enough at their bus stops to assemble professional-level photo shoots, thereby throwing off the schedule for everyone else and giving me a severe case of high blood pressure. Those memory-making jerks!
I snapped a couple of pictures as I talked to the driver and his assistant and Kellan all at the same time. Again, fate cut me a huge break and I managed to get the perfect picture! Kellan departed as if all his young life has been spent getting on and off buses. He hugged me, kissed me, told me he'd miss me, waved good-bye, and headed up the stairs....but not before taking off his shoes??
Perhaps he took "Watch Your Step" a bit too literally.
And just like that....*poof*...he was gone.
******
A couple of notes about this kindergartener.
He is crazy smart. Not necessarily book smart, but quick-smart. He remembers everything. His vocabulary is ridiculous. Over the weekend when they were fishing Rob showed him some cat-tails and Kellan said, "No, those are bullrushes." What the what??? His teacher is in for it.
Kellan's teacher, Mrs. Reese, was Hayden's 4th grade teacher. She is sweet and kind and in for a surprise if she thinks Kellan is in any way a clone of calm, quiet Hayden!
Kellan began reading this summer. Really, truly reading. This is great for kindergarten, terrible for a parent. I cannot lie to him about anything that is in print because he will call my bluff every time. He can read things that he perhaps shouldn't be reading - bathroom grafitti, for example, and signs reading "Stop in for our new soft serve cone today!" ("But Mom, it says they're only fifty cents in August!!") And spelling something out in hopes that he won't get what I'm saying? Forgetaboutit.
Kellan is frank. Perhaps a little too frank. I hope his classmates appreciate brutal honesty.
The only prediction I can confidently make about this school year is that it definitely won't be boring!
Seriously, why can't all of the kids just go back to school on the same day without all the pomp and circumstance? I'll have to confirm with my mother, but I'm pretty sure that my first day of kindergarten started by my mom sticking me on a bus and waving good-bye. I highly doubt that there were any orientations or half days or soft starts like we have today. In fact, now that I think about it, there was nothing soft about my first day of school. Home video will support me because it shows that I had to mount those enormous bus steps wearing an elaborate FULL LENGTH dress with a ruffled bib and high collar. Way to stack the deck against me, Mom.
Anyway...after all the build-up, Kellan's first day of kindergarten finally arrived!
He was completely ready, sort-of excited, and not at all worried about a thing. Good thing ignorance is bliss because I almost made him miss his very first bus! I swear I remember reading that his pick-up time would be 12:33, so this morning we departed the house to run errands with that time in mind. We grabbed lunch and as I drove towards home, I prided myself on being nearly a half hour early for pick-up time. Upon our arrival I instructed Kellan to use the bathroom, wash his hands and get his backpack while I looked for the camera. In that tiny window of time, both kids decided that they needed to poop, and it was during this rotation that fate threw me a big ol' favor and somehow nudged me to double-check the letter from the transportation department. Actual pick-up time? 12:13! Time on the clock when I made this discovery? 12:10. AAAAAAACCCCCCCKKK!
Cue the "Benny Hill", people-running-in-hyper-fast-motion calliope music. I all but yanked Kellan off the toilet and threw him against the front door where I took a surprisingly normal series of photos to commemorate this major milestone.
From bathroom to backpack in 3.2 seconds!
Too cool for school. Me on the other hand? I was sweating buckets. BUCKETS.
Poor Riss had no choice but to gamely follow along. Being that this was her third day of experiencing the thrill of "back-to-school", I think she figured out that moving fast and asking no questions was the safest course of action. I don't know how, but miraculously she made it out to the bus stop with us.
"It's straight up craaazy around here, ya'll!"
Once 12:13 had come and gone, I suspected that the bus was going to be late, so we relaxed a bit and enjoyed standing around in the blistering noonday sun. For 5 years now Kellan has watched his siblings catch the bus and seen them hang their backpacks on this random road marker as they waited, so I'm pretty sure this was a highlight for him.
NOW it's official.
Suddenly it actually was 12:33 and there was still no bus. I made a nervous phone call to the bus company, afraid that somehow the three clocks I looked at on the dash out of the house were all somehow 5 minutes slow and we had in fact, missed the bus. The dispatcher radioed the driver, who appeared around the bend just as she told me, "He's almost there."
Running late. A bus after my own heart!
Apparently all the other kindergarten parents were so on the ball that they arrived early enough at their bus stops to assemble professional-level photo shoots, thereby throwing off the schedule for everyone else and giving me a severe case of high blood pressure. Those memory-making jerks!
I snapped a couple of pictures as I talked to the driver and his assistant and Kellan all at the same time. Again, fate cut me a huge break and I managed to get the perfect picture! Kellan departed as if all his young life has been spent getting on and off buses. He hugged me, kissed me, told me he'd miss me, waved good-bye, and headed up the stairs....but not before taking off his shoes??
Perhaps he took "Watch Your Step" a bit too literally.
And just like that....*poof*...he was gone.
******
A couple of notes about this kindergartener.
He is crazy smart. Not necessarily book smart, but quick-smart. He remembers everything. His vocabulary is ridiculous. Over the weekend when they were fishing Rob showed him some cat-tails and Kellan said, "No, those are bullrushes." What the what??? His teacher is in for it.
Kellan's teacher, Mrs. Reese, was Hayden's 4th grade teacher. She is sweet and kind and in for a surprise if she thinks Kellan is in any way a clone of calm, quiet Hayden!
Kellan began reading this summer. Really, truly reading. This is great for kindergarten, terrible for a parent. I cannot lie to him about anything that is in print because he will call my bluff every time. He can read things that he perhaps shouldn't be reading - bathroom grafitti, for example, and signs reading "Stop in for our new soft serve cone today!" ("But Mom, it says they're only fifty cents in August!!") And spelling something out in hopes that he won't get what I'm saying? Forgetaboutit.
Kellan is frank. Perhaps a little too frank. I hope his classmates appreciate brutal honesty.
The only prediction I can confidently make about this school year is that it definitely won't be boring!