Ruby's First Day of School

I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. Some of my friends have them and I find it to be a nice, convenient way to keep up with what's going on in their lives. There are so many people who want updates from me and I am so bad about actually doing them that I thought this would be a good solution. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I can't promise to post every day, but I will try to post something at least a couple times a week.

I thought that today was an appropriate time to start blogging becuse today was Ruby's first day of school and I know lots of you are interested in how it went. Her school is just about a mile from our apartment, so we decided to walk. I loaded the kids into their wagon and pulled them. I'm hoping that I'll lose some weight from walking back and forth to the school twice each day. I have to admit that I'm a little worn out from doing it today, but it'll get easier. I was fine this morning and on the way back to the school this afternoon, but that second trip home in the blistering sun kind of got to me (even with a hat and sunglasses).

The Kindergarten classes have the parents stay for about an hour the first day to have a meeting with the teacher and help the kids get used to the idea of being in school. Charles arranged to go to work late so that he could come with us. It was nice. Ruby's teacher, Mrs. Viau (pronounced "Vee-Oh"--it's French) had each kid get their picture taken with his or her parents so that she can learn who belongs with which kid. I thought that was a good idea. Ruby and I had already met her teacher and a couple of the other parents and kids when we went to orientation last Thursday. I was really glad we went because Ruby warmed up to the whole idea much faster today. One of the things Mrs. Viau had the kids do with their parents was to find certain things in the classroom (like their cubbies, desks, the drinking fountain, etc.) and get a sticker on their paper when they found each thing. The kids liked that a lot and I thought it was a really geat ice breaker activity for the kids. After that activity and a family photo, we went home and left Ruby to finish her first day of school.

Many mothers would be very emotional and teary eyed upon leaving their first child at school for her first day of kindergarten. I am not one of those mothers. I was ecstatic as Charles, Russell and I walked home from the school. I don't think the reasons I felt that way were entirely selfish, although I was really looking forward to only having one kid for a few hours. I knew that Ruby would take to school really well and that she would enjoy it. It's the kind of environment that I think she'll thrive in. It's hard to be sad when your kid is starting something that you know will be a really great positive and rewarding experience. And my instincts about that turned out to be spot on. When I picked Ruby up she said that school was fun and she really liked it. The teacher dismissed the kids individually and Ruby was one of the first ones out the door, so I assume she behaved herself. Russell was much easier to deal with by himself and I actually managed to get some dishes and laundry done before I had to go back to the school to pick up Ruby. I think this school thing is going to be great!