No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...

Today was Randall's first day of Kindergarten. I have to pause and think about what that means and how that makes me feel. Bear with me, I'm feeling all thoughtful this morning. Maybe because the house is quiet and I have time to myself to think.

Today was the first day of school for my youngest. I will never have a preschooler at home again. No one to run to Wal-Mart with me. No one to ask if we can go get donuts. No one to ask again if we can go get donuts. No one to cry and ask why we never get to get donuts.

Part of me is excited right now. I'm excited because I know Randall is in a wonderful environment. We knew, back when we started thinking about what to do for Kindergarten, that we didn't plan on sending Randall to the Kindergarten in our district. Back when Russ started Kindergarten, we could just request a transfer and go to any other school in the Longview ISD. Well, the rule changed and we couldn't do that for Rand. So, we prayerfully considered our options. Homeschool or private school. I agonized over it because I wanted to make the best decision, not just the easiest (for me) decision.

I checked out private Kindergartens in the area and just knew, when I visited Alpine Christian Academy (a ministry of Alpine Church of Christ), that I wanted Randall to get to go there. The director was wonderful. It's amazing how the director really sets the tone for the school. We chose Elmira Chapel back when Russell was going into pre-school because I was so pleased with the director, too.

Then I got to meet with the Kindergarten teacher, Miss Brenda, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted Randall in her class. She is soft-spoken, but self-assured, and she loves what she does and wants to do the best she can. I called Slade and told him that I felt really, really good about ACA, but it was the most expensive of the options.

I'm sure I've shared all this before, but I can't find the post in my archives, so I'm going to share it all again.

Anyway, to make a long story, well, even longer...

Meet the Teacher was Tuesday and like the good mom I am... I forgot my camera! I had charged the battery and it was ready and I forgot it. Oh, well..

Randall was really not excited or nervous. He had accepted his fate. About a week ago, I asked him what he was most excited about and what he was the least excited about. He said he was most excited about "getting to have Julia in my class" and least excited about "having to have a new teacher". If that's his biggest worry, I know he'll have no problems today!

I was going to take a picture of Russell and Randall for Randall's first day like I've done every year for Russell's first day, but Russell seemed to forget how to smile and was stuck in "scowl and grumble mode", so he got kicked out of the picture.

Randall wasn't totally ready yet, but I wanted to catch them before Russ left for school. Unfortunately, that ended up not being necessary since there's not a Russell in this picture after all...


Once Randall was completely ready, we posed again. First, here's Randall just smiling a little...


I asked him to smile a real smile and he grinned really big (not exactly natural, but still cute) and said, "This is my big smile!"


Randall with his customary thumbs up:


When we got to school, Julia came running down the hall to greet Randall. She, in her sweet way, grabbed his arm and started chatting. I got a cute picture of the two of them and I thought it was funny that they were dressed alike. Such big kids!!


Since I forgot my camera at Meet the Teacher, I made sure to snap a picture of Randall and Miss Brenda.


Then Randall put his lunch bag in his cubby:


Headed over to the "job list" (aka: Which center do I start out in today?)


And discovered that he was in the Math Center.


And, after that, there are no more pictures because he was off on his own. He smiled a sweet smile, waved, and started his day. No tears, no asking when I would come back, no saying he didn't want to go to school. Just a happy kid.

And, that makes a happy Mom. It was bittersweet, though. Now it's just me here at home. In some ways, that is bitter. They are growing up and I don't get to change that. They are experiencing things that I'm not a part of and meeting people that I don't know. They are making their own choices and will sometimes suffer the consequences of those choices. They are learning to be organized, disciplined, obedient, submissive, friendly, competitive, and so many other things. I'm very proud of them, even though I often miss them when they're not here.

However, in this bittersweetness does come the sweetness. I can eat cookies any time I want! I can play at the computer, get caught up on blogs and facebook, list new items on my etsy and so much more! And, I don't have to try to divide my time between kids and other interests. Wa-hoo!

And, I plan to stay busy. I hope to volunteer at both boys' schools, continue to co-coordinate MOPS, be a Discussion Leader in the Evening Women's BSF class here, and many, many other things.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed...

...until the weekends!