1st Day of Kindergarten

I wonder at what age you stop wishing your life away . . . "Mommy, do I go to Kindergarten today?" and start wondering where your life has gone . . . "My goodness! Is today already the day you start Kindergarten?!" I don't actually remember when that mindset changed for me. . . .
"Why are you crying Mommy?" is what I heard from Emily as we walked back home from dropping my four year old son off at school this morning. Today was Ryan's first day of Kindergarten. I awoke this morning, after a very restless night, with the anticipation of putting Ryan on the school bus to go to school. His excitement has been off the charts for several days. We live close enough to the school to walk there, but with our work schedules we are going to have to depend on bus transportation on some days and besides, he couldn't wait to ride the school bus!! We were told several weeks ago that we would be riding one bus only to find out this past Saturday that we would actually be riding a different bus and being picked up at a completely different time. Though disappointed with this change, we were at the bus stop this morning at 7:24 am to board the bus at 7:30. Mike (who had to work this morning) calls my cell phone at 8:10 to tell me he just passed (in his patrol car) the bus Ryan is supposed to be on and the driver is pulling into the school parking lot. Ryan is still standing beside me and was never picked up! We jumped into our neighbors van and quickly made our way over to the school along with our entire neighborhood. After saying good-bye and seeing our children saftely into the school door (they don't allow you to bring your child into the school itself--makes for an easier transition into the classroom), we all headed for the office. Once we talked to the bus driver and the school administration, I was made aware of the fact that Ryan would be arriving at home this afternoon at 3:09--on his bus. The mix up was made by the transportation company and is hopefully completely straightened out now, but since I took today off work I will not get to see him get on the bus for several more weeks.

The neighbor we rode to school with has a little girl that is in Ryan's class along with two older children (the two girls are in the above picture with him). On our way out of the office door, Lydia and Emily in tow, my neighbor hands me a visitor sticker and we make our way down the hall. We pass Ryan's class quickly so to not be seen, but peeked in and saw him sitting with his class on the rug in front of his teacher. I made it past with no problem and started walking home . . . it hit me. With all the craziness of the morning it had not dawned on me that my baby was going to Kindergarten. Where has the time gone? Lydia and Emily were a little confused as to why I was crying, but I assured them that Mommy was fine. Another neighbor passed me on the street--after having dropped off her children--and rolled her window down--she is Russian and speaks very broken english--and asked me if I would like a ride. I thanked her while bushing away tears. She looked at me and asked "Kindergarten?" Amazing how the "language of Mommy" is the same no matter what your nationality.

I am happy to announce that he arrived safely, at his bus stop, this afternoon and was smiling as he crossed the road. Since I was convinced that he would get on the wrong bus when leaving school, I became a little nervous when other children were getting off the bus and he was not. He was the last little guy to get off the bus at his bus stop (very back of the picture--you can click on the pictures to enlarge them). Turns out the bus driver was calling out the names of the children that were to get off at this stop . . . and when your last name is Washington . . . you are not first to do anything:). He spent a half hour telling me about his day, what he did and the friends he made. When asked if he was ready to go back tomorrow . . . "YES!" The bus driver told us she would be back tomorrow morning at 8:06 am (the time we originally had and wanted). Can't believe we both survived it!!