kindergarten, here we come!

 Gordy started kindergarten!  He's had two half-day orientation days so far and overall, he seems pretty happy with the whole thing.  Each morning, our alarm wakes us up (because we are all lazy bums), we eat a quick breakfast, we hop on our bikes and we ride the short mile to the school.  When we get to the school entrance, we all mask up, go park and lock up Gordy's bike, and walk him to his classroom where he gives us hugs, waves goodbye and heads into class A1 with Ms. Matsuda.

Next week, he starts into full days (7:55am to 1:50pm) for the entire week, so our fingers are crossed that he continues to like it well enough to not fight going.  

So far he's what we've been able to pull out of him about school:

- He loves recess because the kids get to play on the playground.  

- He does not like the school lunch and wants a "home lunch" packed from now on. (The school had a menu change and instead of a veggie plate, served beef patty with gravy... I'm not surprised he came home starving.)

- His teacher is nice.

- He has to raise his hand if he wants to talk.

- All of his neighborhood friends are in different classes, so he is going to make new friends.

- He gets a little sad sometime because he misses us.

That last one broke my heart a little bit, but I'm so glad that he's doing his best to be brave.  There were a few kids screaming and crying when they got dropped off last week and I can't imagine having to go through that.  Thankfully, he only seems to get sad during downtimes at school, so hopefully that will get better as he gets more comfortable.

It's weird to watch Gordy go into school and to picture what his classroom must be like compared to our kindergarten classrooms.  I remember sitting (close) to my friends and playing together, holding hands with my best friends and sliding down the slide together, sharing crayons, and playing with toys... things are very different now.  The kids sit 3' apart, they are not allowed to sit next to each other during lunch and basically eat alone.  They must wait 5 seconds after someone goes down the slide before sliding themselves.  And, since they wear masks the entire time, they can't see each others faces/smiles.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that they are wearing masks to keep themselves and everyone else as safe as possible, but the whole thing makes me a little sad for the kids.  Their kindergarten environment seems less friendly than what I remember mine being.  

Thankfully, Gordy doesn't know anything different, so he doesn't seem to mind.  And, as long as he's happy, we are all happy.  I'm so proud of my little guy for being so brave and I'm excited for all that he's going to learn this next year!