Kindergarten Update!

Thank you all for your kind emails, comments, phone calls and for humoring me in my moments of mommy-weakness.  I am happy to report that today came and went without a hitch.  Toby woke up in great spirits and his excitement about kindergarten proved to be contagious.  We laughed and chatted all the way in to town and it wasn’t until about a block before school that he announced rather suddenly that his “tummy felt weird.”  I reassured him that mine did, too.

Drop off was fine.  He rallied his shyness and eventually mustered up the courage to come out from behind my legs and was sitting by the window with some of the bigger SK boys when I left.   He even casually shrugged off my eager suggestion that we wave to one another as I walked past his kindergarten window on my way back to the car.  I could tell he was going to be just fine.

Before I knew it, 3pm was upon us and I was able to come and pick him up.  I was SO eager to hear about his day. 

My anxieties have quickly dissipated and I have entered the realm of bemused investigative work.  Deciphering what ACTUALLY went down today has been an exercise in creative questioning and patience.  Rob and I have spent the evening working on it and this is what we have thus far : 

-       He has 3 teachers.  Two of them are called “Mrs. Shields”.  The other one is called The French Teacher.

-       He does not have French classes.  This lady does not teach them French, nor does she speak French.  She accompanied their class to the gym to play duck duck goose and the reason he calls her The French Teacher is that is what the other kids call her.

-       He didn’t get a turn at duck duck goose; each time someone went around he was called a Duck.
      He has a "medium" number of kids in his class.  More specifically, he has "between zero and nine" kids in the class.

-       One kid cried.  One kid got hurt and had a bleeding elbow.
      He didn't sing any songs or read any books. They did SUGGEST he participate in Arts and Crafts but he refused so someone traced his hands on the board for him.  (Probably "Mrs Shields"...)

-       At Kindergarten they call Circle time “Science Centre”.  I was corrected about 5 times tonight after mistakenly referring to circle time by its former name.

-       They start “science center” every morning by putting their hands together, saying something, and then saying “Amen”.   They pronounce it “Ah-men” not “Hah-men” like they do at church.
      He didn't go to the bathroom at all today.

-       He had two breaks for lunch.  During the first one he ate his sandwich and during the second one he ate his apple.  What he REALLY wanted to eat was his applesauce but he couldn’t find his spoon.  No, Mrs Shields was not there to help him find it because someone's Grandma was in charge of the class during the lunch times.  (He didn't remember her name).  When I emptied his lunch bag he had all his desserts sitting there untouched (INCLUDING his Cars gummies!) with his spoon sitting on top and no sign of his applesauce.  Another mystery...

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That’s the update from our end!  I promise not to report any further drama until at least Monday when he has to start taking the bus on his own.  Until then, have a great weekend!