We have been anticipating this day for nearly a year.  J started Kindergarten.

But, he’d been denying that fact since the first day of last year at his preschool, when he entered the Aryot (Lions in Hebrew) class, and we knew that this was his last year at his beloved TI-ECC! (If you live in our neck of the woods, and need a high-quality early childhood program, you won’t find better than TI-ECC).

So, we’d been slowly talking up the idea of kindergarten, since last fall.

At first, he kept denying the fact that he would go to kindergarten at all!

But, by the time he had his end-of-year program at the ECC in the spring, he seemed to be coming around to the idea…a little.  Even the notion of accompanying his big brother on the bus to school (when, previously, he has cried piteously, watching S ride off alone), wasn’t convincing him that joining the elementary school crowd was worth the effort of the change and adjustment involved.

We kept talking it up all summer long.

Every transition, from various summer programs, and our intermittent vacations interrupting the flow of habit, was an opportunity to introduce the idea that we would have a new routine in the fall.

And, then, the Day arrived!

He attended orientation last Friday (and, reportedly, cried, and clung to Daddy through the whole thing!).

We got him to bed as early as we could last night, hoping that he would have a good night’s rest.

We woke him up in plenty of time to get dressed, brush teeth, eat some breakfast, and still have time to play with his newest toy – a remote-control police car!

And, then, about 5 minutes ahead of time, we all walked out the door, and ambled slowly down to the corner, where the bus picks up.

Here are the boys, at the bottom of our drive:

And, we walked down the road, a short block to the corner.  We were the first ones there (a record for us!).  But, we stopped along the way to ponder a bit of missing asphalt in the middle of the road.  As other families joined us on the corner, J refused to acknowledge anyone, but wasn’t clingy, either.

And, then the bus came.

 

And, he followed his brother, bravely mounting the bus steps, and moving back to a seat that he shared with S, who had promised, at least on this first day, to sit with his little brother.

And, although he wasn’t willing to admit it, we think he did have a good first day!