Sebastian's first week of kindergarten (okay, first 2 1/2 days) were a smashing success. He came home happy every afternoon and was excited each morning to get on the bus and go off. On Thursday, he was second in line at the bus stop and climbed on board without even a backwards look or wave goodbye. On Friday, Steve tried to pick him up early from his afterschool program (the ICC) and was told to go away. Seb was riding tricycles around the yard with all the other kindergartners and didn't want to leave. On Thursday he came home and told us he'd made a friend at the ICC, and on Friday a friend in his kindergarten class. He didn't know their names, but we were delighted for him nonetheless. He's come such a long way from the baby and toddler who wept at dropoff every day, and the 3-year old who clung to our legs and didn't want to try anything new. We're amazed at his development and so happy that he seems so confident and self-assured.
So far he loves his new backpack, lunchbox, water bottle, and lunch/snack containers, all of which match and are cars-themed. (He picked them all, obviously.) He loves the school bus and is incredibly excited to ride it twice a day. His only complaint so far is that he doesn't get to ride it home from the ICC. He also loves the ICC, where he gets to play outside with trikes and balls and on the playground, and inside with legos, blocks, trucks, cars, and trains. We too have been incredibly impressed by the organization and enthusiasm of the ICC teachers, who seem happy and actively engaged with the children. Kindergarten itself, with Ms. McNamara, comes in for a lot less disclosure - he liked the field trip to the library, where he got to check out a book by himself, but he hasn't been very talkative about what is actually happening in the classroom. He made a name tag for his cubby, writing his own name and coloring it. He ate graham crackers for snack. The aide is named Mr. A. That's about all I've gotten out of him so far.
Since his kindergarten is nut aware, and the ICC is nut free, I've been thinking about ways to make tasty snacks that conform to the guidelines. We're such a nutty family - almond butter sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, nuts in our breakfast cereals and dinner salads, dried fruit and nuts for snacks, granola bars with nuts, bread with nuts, etc. It's hard for me to get out of the groove. But I tried out a new recipe today for nut-free granola bars, and they turned out really tasty. I still thought they'd be even tastier with some peanut butter and pecans added in, but these can go with Seb as a snack to school and afterschool, and that's great. It's nice to have an alternative to fruit and crackers.
Along these same lines - our boy is growing up - we have embarked on our first real chapter book. I suppose we could have tried earlier, but there are so many terrific picture books out there, and short chapter books (the Poppleton series, with 3 chapters in each book, are our favorite), that we simply haven't. But now, spurred by our family fascination with the enormous spider living on the screen outside our dining windows, we are reading E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. We're about halfway through, reading 1-3 chapters a day. The story is scarier than I remembered - there's a lot of talk about death - but he seems really interested in the fate of Wilbur and able to pay attention to the slow development of the story line. It's super fun. I already have the next book in mind - Roald Dahl's The BFG. I borrowed it from the library and will pre-read it first, but I remember it with glee.
And finally, one last interesting development. Seb learned to say grace during his week with Grandma and Grandpa Raab - a simple rhyming prayer. For a few days after he returned, he didn't mention it, but suddenly on Friday night he told everyone to sit down at dinner so we could say grace together. Steve and I were surprised, but complied. And then he wanted to do it again on Saturday, so we once again complied. This time I made us all hold hands, in the Avery tradition at celebratory meals. I don't know how long this will continue, but it's interesting, and we're certainly willing to go along if he's enjoying it. There's undeniably something sweet about the four of us sitting together, holding hands and looking at each other, and saying thank you for the food and for our life.
We are happy, and Seb is clearly happy, to have returned to days with clear structure and expectations and lots of kid play. He's been much better behaved since Wednesday, and nicer to us and Liesl in particular.
Phew. I have more to write, about Liesl, but this is long enough for now.
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