Hooray! Waaaah! Yippeee! Boohoo!

My little, teeny, tiny, baby boy, Darling Son Two, started Kindergarten today. sniff

He can't read yet and even his older brother who can doesn't read blogs, so I'm safe in calling him a teeny, tiny baby.

We had gone to the open house yesterday, so had seen the classes and met the teachers and found out that there would be 5 or 6 other kids from DS1's class last year in his class this year, etc. This morning, I told DS1 that I was going to take DS2 into his class and he said "OK. Bye." and took off for his own class. So I went in with DS2 and re-met his teachers and went with all the other kids and parents into the K playground and pretty soon told him goodbye and he wandered off to play.

I then talked to one of DS1's teachers from last year, then went to give DS1 and official goodbye, then talked to a friend from book group who had just dropped her child off for K - Hi M! - and was walking back past the K playground just in time to see DS2 sitting alone on a low wall and a teacher going between him and two boys. I turned around and went back to his class and he was still sitting alone and looking a bit lost. I have no idea what happened with the other boys, but he had just realized, really and concretely, that what we had been saying along, that his friends from his preschool and his bestest buddy and friends from playgroup are going to different schools. Even the one friend who does go to that school is in a different class.

So somehow I survived the day without my guys (Got some sewing done! Went to the store alone!) and went back to get DS2. He seemed a bit tired and neutral, but OK. I asked if he made friends and he shrugged "I guess so. Some." So I suggested that he at least met some people and some of them would get to be his good friends and he thought about it and looked a little more happy about it. Best buddy-ness isn't built in a day, but he's a happy, mostly agreeable kid and I'm not worried.

There is only an hour between pick up times for K and for everyone else and it's a good 20 minute drive each way (insert rant about the district deciding to move our school, along with several other charter schools they house), so DS2 and I went and had a non-nutritious snack at the nearby grocery store and picked up a bag of chips to share with DS1.

We got back to the school a bit early and sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. Pretty soon, all the other classes were out except his. (And it was in the upper 90's today.) So, finally, the door opens and kids start coming out. And there's DS1, hobbling across the room. Day One and he has tripped on the (truly abominable and crumbling - a sub-topic of my rant about the district moving us) blacktop on the playground and skinned the shhhhoot out of both knees. I'm not sure how much the wounds still hurt, but they had put huge bandaids on them and so I'm sure that every time he moves a leg, he is restrained by those, too. Ah well, I was thinking we wouldn't go to karate anyway because they would need to rest and this was an extra reason.

And otherwise, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play? He had a good day, it sounds, except for the fall. They are watching the Great Muppet Caper and eating fruit and drinking milk, so I think that they need bigger lunches and that they won't be too hungry for supper.