I can’t believe it. I’m now the mother of a Kindergartener.
For Tanner, there was no bittersweet. Only excitement!!
He ran out the door, “Come on Mom, we don’t want to be late!”
The day before school started, we read my absolute favorite book, the Kissing Hand.
We made these cute handprints to go along with the story and complete a quick questionnaire – All about Tanner. Some of his answers surprised me, and if I asked him today, would probably get a totally different answer.
Before we left the house, I wanted to capture a few cute pics.
And Brooke, of course, insisted on being included as well. These two are so cute together, I’m glad she’ll be taking a nap most of the time while he’s gone, cause she doesn’t know what to do without him.
For lunch, Tanner and I got to go on a mommy/son date at a local pizza place. As we were getting to the restaurant, tanner was telling me “This is BOTH of ours LUCKY day cause we get to spend time together. It’s better than Legoland…cause that was just my lucky day – not yours!” As long as he stays this sweet, I guess it’s okay if he grows up. Maybe…
Tanner was very concerned when I had to stop by the house and grab my cell phone – “Mom, I don’t want to be late!” This isn’t a phrase I’ve ever heard him utter. Tanner is a pokey puppy and ALWAYS the last one to get in the car! I’m hoping this is a trend that continues.
Anthony met us at the school and we walked him in together. Tanner is already acting like he’s way too cool for pics.
Tanner just couldn’t wait to rush to his room, find his seat, and get started.
Just like the story, I gave Tanner a kiss on the hand, and he gave one to us, and that was it. He didn’t seem nervous, shy, sad or anything…just EXCITED! That was it.
I didn’t think I’d get emotion, but walking down that hall, brought the whole realization hit me, and as I was telling Anthony what he said at lunch about it being BOTH of our LUCKY days, I got all choked up. He’s such a sweet little boy, and I’m definitely going to miss him during the day.
And halfway through the afternoon, I got an email with a picture of Tanner – showing me how much fun he was having. Seriously – so cute!!!
When I picked him up, the same excitement was on his face. Success! He had a great first day of school – and said he liked going to library the best – where he got to pick out and take home a book.
When we got home, I had another special surprise waiting. Two more story books…
And hopefully he’ll be reading this on his own in no time!
I had a LOT of anxiety about him starting this school year, and all summer long, we planning on enrolling him in another year of Transitional K at a local preschool. I talked myself into all the reasons why I wasn’t ready for him to start – but they were all about me…and none about him. He was ready to start!
Earlier, Tanner had seemed to read my mind. The main anxiety I had about starting school was the social aspect – and couldn’t handle the thought of being not being nice to him or him learning bad habits from other kids. As if he could read my mind, he told me before school started – “Mom, I don’t need to be friends with everyone. I just need a few close friends that I really like.”
I definitely think he experience last year starting at a whole new preschool in which he knew absolutely no one totally helped prepare him for this year.
Plus, he had gotten a special priesthood father’s blessing from Anthony the night before, calming more of my fears.
I had been praying about this decision, but couldn't ever feel at peace about holding him back. I still had my hesitations, but after meeting the teacher and seeing the school, I feel great about this decision!
His teacher, Mrs. Swan, is very well-educated, has a Masters degree from the top-ranked teaching college in KS. She’s been teaching for over 11 years, and has a son just a few years older, so she knows all about boys.
Plus, it’s just a half-day program and he has a small class size -- there’s only 14 kids in his class. And many of the other kids also have summer birthdays just like him. Seriously, all answers to our prayers!!!
PS – Not that it really matters, but I had this amazing outfit preppy boy outfit picked out. Tanner insisted it was a church-shirt cause it was a button-down. Small battles…he won! But when I looked at what all the other boys were wearing…it was ALL athletic shorts and t-shirts. Is this what boys wear to school these days? Apparently Tanner has more sense of fashion than I do!!. He would EASILY wear these every.single.day if he could.
