Visit the Kelpforest (pt. 2)

Yesterday was Angus' first day of kindergarten - I stayed home from work so we could all walk to school together. The school is undergoing major renovations - probably much overdue, since it's the same school I went to from second through fifth grade - so many of the classrooms are in trailers. I remember several of those from when I went to school there, and now there are even more. Angus is a "Later Gator" since he starts at 10:21, and he and all of his classmates get a purple bandana with an alligator on the back. The kid starting earlier than him are "Early Birds" and are done at lunchtime, but they all overlap in the middle of the day.

They let us stay for the first half hour. There was one other mom who could not get off her cell phone - she didn't hear when the teacher asked her to go outside, and it wasn't til another parent went over and asked her that she did. As I figured, we were the oldest parents there, and Angus was easily the tallest kid of his classmates. He did not go to preschool, and I hope it's not going to make him too far behind. I know he knows his numbers, and quite few of his letters, but the kids who've been to preschool already knew how to sit cross legged and give the "quiet sign," and may have known how to write their names - he doesn't quite yet. He also seems to have a problem with eye contact.

We snuck out as Mrs. K was having them draw a picture of themselves by filling in a blank outline. After perusing the PTA stuff in the next trailer, and being bombarded with "Volunteer opportunities" (which I'd like to help with, but I don't know what I can do when I work during the day) John and I walked home. He was so filled with nervous energy his friend Jerry took him to the park to throw horseshoes, until it was time to pick Angus up.

Mrs. K said Angus was kind of confused about a lot of things, but it's also his first time in this kind of environment, so she wasn't too worried about him getting used to it. Unfortunately, we put a pair of pants on him that needed a belt, and when he had to go to the bathroom, he didn't know how to refasten it. So I feel bad about that. I brought the camera this time, since I had spaced in the morning; John wanted a picture of him with his new teacher. On the way home, Angus started having a tantrum, because we were "going the wrong way," and subsequently refused to tell us anything about how his school day went. However, he did relent later and said they read another story, watched a video about computers, and had a hot dog for lunch.



I don't know exactly why, but I felt kind of sad and worried all evening, and this morning when I got up, enough that my stomach hurt. Maybe because I won't get to walk him to school very much, before he stops needing the accompaniment - John tells me I got provide something special for them when they were small, and it's his turn to do that now. Angus was happy to see his new lunch box that John got for him last night; it has a little magnetic screen inside that you can leave notes on. John called to tell me that he was first in line to walk in the door of his classroom with no qualms whatever.

Growing up, indeed.

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While I was typing this, that male hummingbird buzzed up and hovered right by the dining room window, fixing me with a beady glare, as if to tell me, "That feeder is gettin' pretty low - you'd better be filling it up today!"

Yes sir! As soon as I get home, sir!