Kindergarten Round-up

Today was kindergarten round-up for Carter. Caroline was sad that she couldn't go (she remembered how much fun it was when she went to hers). Alex was sad he had to stay home with daddy and Aaron was sad he had to come. Mommy was sad that she had to take two kids out in the POURING rain, and Daddy was anxious to be able to get into work.....but Carter was EXCITED (especially when he found out he didn't have to stay for the entire day).

We got to the school (soaked despite our sprint from the far reaches of the parking lot), signed in, and sat down in the very.first.row so as not to miss a single thing that was about to happen. Then we waited for the meeting to start. And waited. And waited. We arrived 15 minutes early, and the meeting actually started 13 minutes late. The last 15 minutes of our wait was spent having the following conversation:

Carter: How long until it starts?
Me: it should start any minute now.
Carter: Why aren't they starting
Me: I don't know--they should start soon.

wait 30 seconds and repeat.

It was fun to see him so excited. Once we started they took all the kids off in small groups. The kids had the chance to get on and off the school bus, eat a snack, listen to a story in the media center, and see a kindergarten classroom.

The parents sat in the meeting and listened to a lot of information on what kindergarten would be like, how to help your kids, and various things about school life.

Carter's report of his time:

• The bus did NOT have ANY seat belts (followed by a request that we buy a school bus for our next car)
• The bus had a door on the ceiling
• The snack was a snicker doodle cookie (his "very very favorite cookie ever")
• He liked the story in the media center
• A boy named Justin asked the kindergarten para-pro (leading his group) if she had a dollar so he could buy a coke---she said no. Carter said Justin was "Totally BUSTED".

The report of my time:

• Lots of things I already knew (having been at this elementary school for a year, and going through it already with Caroline).
• I noted a few differences in kindergarten schedule from Caroline's old elementary school.
• They had extra counselors the first week of school--and parents were welcome to go and talk to a counselor after they dropped their child off, if they needed to. I found it funny that they needed extra counselors to help the parents...
• Despite having done this with Caroline, and the fact that Carter went to preschool 3 days a week last year and is ALREADY in half-day kindergarten this year..I still choked up a little when they talked about them getting on the bus and having extra staff in the cafeteria to help them open their gogurt...not sure why, but I did.

Overall it was a great morning. I'm excited to think about how much fun he is going to have at school. I'm excited about all the friends he will make. I'm excited at how much he will learn. I'm excited about having a year without carpool every day, being able to drop both of them off at the bus stop at 7am and not having anything that has to be done until I meet their bus at 2:30

......but I'm a little sad too.