No, it isn't a catch up post. A new school year. This has always been the time that I renew my goals. Now we celebrate the kids starting school and all the big changes. This year we have two in school and two at home. Wild! I am excited for this change and all the growing these kids are going to do. Taylin moving forward in her education with old and new friends. Cohen will be learning the basics of school and gaining new friends. Kennedy will get to be the big girl on campus and more time with mom. She will also have some bonding time with Teague.
Teague will also get more bonding time with mom and Kennedy. He is mainly my shadow for now. If he isn't my shadow, I wonder what he could possibly be getting into. I will miss the big kids tremendously. I know they will blossom so much this year.
I am pretty exhausted after today. Cohen is only doing half days Mon-Wed. No biggy, that just means loading, unloading, loading, unloading, loading, unloading...several times a day, in and out of the car. I thought the kids would crash a lot sooner. They got their second wind when they got to tell David about their first day.
A brief recap as to why I was so worried today might go worse than it did...Thursday was meet the teacher night. Yeah, right! Wow! Polly watched Teague while I took the rest of the kiddos with me. The rooms and cafeteria were packed with parents and siblings and excited kiddos. Cohen was very overwhelmed. His teacher even noticed. He was almost having a panic attack and was very insistent on me carrying him...and Kennedy...and 112 degrees of heat. I had a long walk. He is five. He is walking. I was also in a hurry to get home to relieve Polly. When we got home we just cuddled. Cohen calmed, while my worries escalated. I had seen only excitement from him until that night. I did everything I could not to show him my worries.
We had talks here and there about what he is most excited about and what his biggest fears were. The first response was: he is excited about seeing Mrs. Marcus; he is most worried about the computers not working. Silly boy! So after further discussion, I think he was ready. I did have a lifesaver watch the little ones while I took them to school. Thank you, Barbara.
Well, after all the anxiety. Things went very smoothly. It is actually uneventful. Almost like he had done this a million times. My sunglasses hid a few tears and we said our good-byes. I only have a few shots, because that is just what happened. Simple!
I did do a little moment of reflection with him and got some fun responses:
What worried you the most about starting Kindergarten?
Cohen: my friends in time out
What is your teacher like?
Cohen: She likes to smell flowers
After further direction, Cohen: happy
Lunch was...
Cohen:...it was where Taylin did her spider thing on stage. I sat by my friend with a blue shirt.
Did you meet anyone new?
Cohen: four friends...actually 5 friends; Mckenzie, Scott and I can't remember the rest.
What was your favorite part of the day?
Cohen: visiting that guy's place that let's us play with the computer
Taylin: That is media with Mr. X.
What are you looking forward to this school year?
Cohen: Learning to play the computers.
If you could change one thing about today, what would it be?
Cohen: I wanted to play blocks and the cars.
What do you think you'll learn in Kindergarten?
Cohen: How to fly a remote control helicopter
I smiled and asked again with emphasis "in
Kindergarten...in
school, silly?"
Cohen: How to put in the batteries? (Mom, gives him a quizzical look.) Because I don't know which way they go.
What is your favorite food?
Cohen: hot dogs
What is your favorite toy?
Cohen: My cars and airplanes
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Cohen: A builder...that builds buildings
Me: Wow, an engineer.
Cohen: no, just a builder guy
What will you do after you've answered this question?
Cohen: Play with Taylin, because I like her...I didn't get to see her all day.
Love that kid. I love how the two of them are best friends. I hope to see Kennedy and Teague gain a relationship like them while they are here. They all get along so well. Even though I am most glad I won't be referring as much with them at school. Still some sibling rivalry.
Taylin loved seeing her friends again and being at school. She told David, "My day was pretty good. (she got quiet) Except when Brandon called us a bad name." He was named "Enemy boy" at the beginning of the year last year. I encouraged her to learn his real name. I think by the end of the year she was a bit more fond of him. She said, "Mom, I am going to miss Brandon this summer. I like his smile. He has a nice smile." Well, I guess the time apart put them back to yucky boys and yucky girls. Funny!
Yet, they still just go for the icing only...whether it is fondant (yuck, in my personal opinion) or buttercream icing. 
