First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!

I don't have vivid memories about much in my past (which is why when Nathan remembers something that I'm surprised about, I always tell him that he has a great memory just like his Aunt Karen, not his Mommy!), but there is one that I've been thinking about over and over lately.  It was when Nathan was an infant, not sleeping well, feeding going terribly (we had thrush and it was SO painful to nurse and Nathan WOULD NOT take a bottle), and I had the feeling that having a baby might have been the worst mistake of my life... I remember thinking how is it possible that we will ever make it through this, he will never grow up and NO WAY will he ever be big enough to go to KINDERGARTEN!!

But yep, here we are!

I don't think I've blogged about it, but we enrolled Nathan in a private christian school called Paideia Academy.  I follows a different educational model called "classical christian education", which we are really excited about.  It doesn't use common core, but rather goes back to the basics.  There's lots of memorization and phonics works, math drills, NO technology in the classrooms (there's not even a computer lab in the school), they begin learning Latin in the 4th grade, and as the kids grow there is a strong emphasis on critical thinking and logic and speaking skills.  We are totally pumped about Nathan getting a great education there.  Oh and a big thing in the early grades, they're on a "university schedule" where they go to school M/W/F and are home with "homeschool" lessons on T/Th.  So that will be an adventure for us all I'm sure!

Sarah's enrolled in a new preschool this year which doesn't start for another two weeks.  But she was eager to get her picture taken anyway.  I'm pretty sure she won't be this cheerful when its her turn to go to school - she's pretty anxious about it already. 

We had talked the night before because Nathan said "I think I'm a little bit nervous."  And I told him that was normal, that he could be excited and nervous at the same time.  But in the morning he told me "I'm not nervous anymore" and was excited as he was getting ready and cool as a cucumber on the way to school. 

This is the "smile" he gave me when we hopped out of the car at school. 

All set to go with his new kindergarten backpack.

I don't think I even got a good-bye from him when we got to his classroom.  His teacher was showing him where his desk was and the activity that they were supposed to get started on.  I stood there holding his backpack for a bit (maybe a minute but it felt like a long time) and then it dawned on me that he wasn't going to turn around and give me a hug and that I just needed to make my exit.  So I ruffled his hair (still no eye contact from him) and left.  No tears from either one of us though I did get choked up for a second when we were walking into school together!

When I picked him up in the afternoon I asked him how he was.  "Great!"  And how was his day? "Great!" with two thumbs up.  Hooray for kindergarten!