Kindergarten

Carter had officially started Kindergarten!

Last Tuesday, we attended an open house to meet his teacher and look around his classroom. We also had a short conference with his teacher on Friday to talk about Carter's strengths, challenges, and what she could do to help him succeed. While we were waiting for our turn (a wait that turned out to be rather lengthy), Carter struck up a conversation with an aid who was working nearby. It so happened that she was to help out in his classroom a few days a week. I think she was amused by him. Leave it to Carter: he's already making an impression on the staff. :)

Carter was excited for Monday morning to come. We got him dressed up in his uniform, took lots of pictures, left the other two boys with Grandma and Grandpa (who were staying a couple extra days after dedication weekend) and he and I were on our way. He led the way to his classroom and, after helping to unload his backpack and get him settled, I left him all alone in the great big world of Elementary School. It didn't phase him one bit. He was more than happy to see me leave and get his Kindergarten career started.

I, on the other hand, got choked up on the drive home. I spent the morning thinking about what he was doing and whether or not he ever paused in his chattering long enough for the teacher to get a word in edgewise.

When I went to pick him up, there he was, holding the hand of the aid he had befriended last week, excited as all get out about Kindergarten.

On day two, Carter learned that the all-day Kindergarten kids get to have lunch and school and do gym class. We had tears. Why, oh why, he wanted to know, did he have to be in half-day Kindergarten? Couldn't we change it? Please?? With day three under our belts, the love affair with Kindergarten continues, and we are still getting requests to change him to full-day. Fortunately without tears now, though.

Today on the way home, he informed me how to say "good-bye" in Latin. Don't ask me to repeat it, I can't. But I thought, it has begun: my child knows something that I don't know. Something Jeff or I didn't teach him and couldn't teach him. This is the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg that apparently begins with "good-by" in Latin.