Kindergarten

Today was the Kindergarten Open House at Caleb's Elementary School. Scott and Caleb & I all went together (I'm really glad Scott's job allows that kind of flexibility in his schedule that he was able to attend...I know Caleb wouldn't have felt as confident as he did if Scott hadn't been there). After dropping Micah off at a friend's house we drove to the school in a bit of anticipatory silence. It was obvious that Caleb was excited...he was just taking it all in and looking ahead to where we were going and what was coming next. Scott and I were a bit more solemnly quiet. I don't know if we were in the same place mentally ~ I tend to doubt it but you never know.

I was in the place of thinking I wish I was one of those "on top of it" kind of Moms who knows where everything is in their house and doesn't need to take time to stop and think about where they put that so they'd know where it was when they needed it. (This is one of those times when I think Scott probably was thinking the same thing I was...he wishes I was that kind of Mom many times, too! :) Thankfully they have that in him and I can step in the for the spontaneous fun stuff ~ we balance each other well.) Yes, as you can probably guess from what I was thinking it dawned on me at the last minute that I needed another form for his registration and although I know exactly where it is I need a key to get to it...and it's the key I cannot find at this moment. UGH!!!!! So, after telling myself NOT to believe the voice in my head telling me exactly what they thought of my orginizational skills I began to think about this whole Kindergarten thing.....

I remember very little of Kindergarten except Mrs. Van der Aarte and the really cool wooden kitchen with little sink and refrigerator and shelves we got to play with. I didn't like the stove then either. :) I remember Mrs. Van der Aarte had blonde hair that she wore in a really high beehive ~ of course, I was probably all of two feet tall so it probably wasn't that high ~ and she was pretty and smiled a lot. She was really OLD, too!! I swear she was probably as old as Mom and Dad!! I remember she made us feel safe and she read great stories to us and I remember walking all the way down the really long hall in South Sioux School to her classroom feeling like I was such a big girl. And I'm almost positive I cried on the first day. I'm pretty positive I did because I seem to remember Mom putting on that strong but gentle Mom face and telling me I'll be okay and walking away before it got really hard to leave.

The strange thing is I don't remember Kindergarten being a really academic year. Maybe it was, but to me (and this is so surprising knowing how serious I am) it was just a really great time to play with my friends! Okay, if Scott were standing beside me he'd groan and say, "oh, brother!" Hmmm....I seem to remember most of my school years being exactly that ~ a great time to play with my friends and learn something in the process.

Caleb seems to be that way. He had no trouble walking down the hall talking the big student's head off; his teacher said he had a good time and had lots to share...and when we went on our bus ride after our meetings were over and the bus driver lady asked if there were any questions Caleb was the only one to raise his hand. Yup. The only one. Time kind of stood still for Scott & I as Caleb told the bus driver (and the entire bus) that "sometimes my dog likes to eat dirt." Polite chuckles and chuckles that said, "thank God that wasn't my kid!" flittered about the tinny interior of the bright yellow school bus as the bus driver smiled and lovingly responded to a child's innocent statement. Any worries I had about whether he was gonna make it kind of drifted away.

Yes, Caleb will do okay. It's his Mom I'm a bit worried about...