kindergarten update

After 2 full weeks of school, we have all finally settled into our routine.  

The first week ended up being quite rough.  Once the first day was over and he realized that he had to keep going back, he became very upset.  He spent the next four days crying from breakfast, through our bike ride and all the way into class.  A few of the days, he cried enough that he soaked his mask and the teacher had to give him a different one.  He'd beg and plead for us to take him home and not to make him go.  He'd grab ahold of me and try his best not to let go... it was rough.  

We spent that next weekend talking about how important school is - how if he wants to be a fireman, he has to finish school.  We ordered him an iron-on fireman badge that he gets to earn and put on his backpack when he makes it through a whole week of not crying.  And, his teacher told him that he would finally get to have a friend at his lunch table (like all the other kids) the next week.

So, on Monday of his second week, at breakfast, Gordy announced, "I'm going to be brave today, mom.".  And he was.  No tears at all!  We could tell that he was not super happy about the whole thing, but he tried to do his best and after a few days, he actually seemed to be enjoying it.  He has some friends who he plays tag with on the playground.  He loves his teacher, Ms. Matsuda.  He is not a big fan of coloring time, but he uses the backs of his coloring sheets to draw us pictures of our family holding hands.  And, he loves our bike rides to and from school.

Today, he had food poisoning, so he stayed home and he actually said he was sad about missing school because his teacher and all of his friends would be sad that he wasn't there!

I'm sure that there will be days in our future when he begs us to let him stay home from school, but for now, he's turned the corner and is liking his school time.