While I was cooking breakfast Luke was coloring. He asked me once how to spell my name, so I spelled it out for him verbally. About 5 minutes later (apparently learning how to adjust starting point for my name length), Luke presented me with this. It made me teary. Under normal circumstances I may have just been proud and hung it somewhere......but today it felt big. Today was the entry to "the show". Luke, at 5, has been recruited (by state law, not talent), to kindergarten. Apparently he is the only one ready, as I admit to searching for more info on his school by googling "Fern Hill Kindergarden". I'm not very bright. I can't even spell kindergarten right. This does not bode well for my children. I looked into this about a month ago as I had gotten the heads up that registration was in view. I was shocked (SHOCKED!) at the amount of forms necessary to enroll him in public school! There were several parent info forms, a form that had to be filled out by his Pedi, a form that had to be filled out by his dentist, an immunization form, a mortgage statement, a copy of his birth certificate, a current utility bill, and a nurse release form authorizing him to receive such (to me) relatively innocuous medications like tylenol or band aids. Really? Like, my kid is bleeding and I am a theoretically anti band aid parent? It all was a little bit shocking, to me. If this seems like complaining, let me temper it by stating that filling out the forms made me very grateful. No, Luke has not been exposed to anyone in prison. No, Luke has not been kicked out of any schools. No, Luke does not have any criminal record. No, Luke does not have any health conditions, allergies, or issues that we are aware of at this point. No, Luke does not live with a legal guardian. Yes, Luke lives with his parents, who live at the same home, and are married to one another (and quite like one another, in fact). Seeing such questions broke my heart, because those questions are asked for a reason, and the fact is, Luke is a lucky kid. When I find myself getting (occasionally) stressed out about this public school thing (in the wake of so many of my friends shelling out 10's of thousands of dollars in Montessouri or Friends, or Episcopal Academy or the like.......it can be stressful, even though I have no reason to doubt our school, doubt public education, or doubt my child), filling out these forms, and recognizing how Luke may not be going to a bagillion dollar school, but that Luke is LOVED, is therapy to me.
Anyway. Today was the day. I dutifully had all of my forms in a folder (little things like this feel like a huge accomplishment to me at times, with Nate so busy with work and three littles......and my general distaste for following rules etc). I dropped Luke and Jules off at school, then cried, just a little. A baby cry. A breathless inhaled sort of "Huh Huh Huhhhhh" sob followed by a stern "get it together soldier") emotional bracing. A moment of mourning. It passed. I was the first in line, the forms were all in order, and Luke is registered for Kindy. A small moment of joy happened as we stood there and I got a tap on the shoulder and turned to see my brother in law (by marriage, Becca's BIL), Tommy, smiling at me asking what the heck I was doing there. Turns out he is temping, and just TODAY got transferred to Fern Hill, and to Kindy at that! This is good. This gets me all the inside dirt, in advance. This is may be bad, too, if I find out Luke gets the kindy asshole teacher. If he has the asshole kindy teacher I may morph into the asshole Kindy parent. Then again, asshole teachers but good parents can be wonderful, so maybe I will be the "rise above" asshole kindy teacher parent. Or not. But I suppose I can worry about that later. Clearly I'm not thinking about any of this at all.
Totally relaxed. My style ;).
He has a day of testing in August, not sure what that is all about. I find out in July if he is AM or PM kindy, which could precipitate all sorts of changes. If he gets afternoon, I'm going to switch Jules to afternoon. In some ways, this would be great. It would let us get out to the gym or park or with friends in the AM, and then Jake could nap while they were at school. I'm curious about how the nap/bus/drop off schedule etc thing is going to work, but have decided to not fret about it until I know more.
They provided a list of "Kindy skills" which included basics like:
*Listen to a story for 15 minutes
*Sit still for 15 minutes
*retain information
*Have an interest in reading, stories, alphabet etc
*names colors (seriously? Jake can barely talk and can do this)
*talk in complete sentences?
*use scissors?
*Share?
*cooperate?
*Go to the bathroom without assistance?
etc etc. He can do these things. I love his set up. At 2.5 he went 2 days, stayed at 2 days at 3 (due to Julia), and went to 4 days this year. He is ready for Kindy.
It makes me a little sad (again) when they tell parents how to help their child prepare. This list includes things like
*Visit the library
*Read to them
*Take walks
*Talk with your child, not at them.
*ask your child how they feel.
*set limits, make rules.
*Sing songs.
*Have your child help with dinner.
I mean.........really? Again, it both reassures me that Luke is ready, but makes me sad that some of these items might be real *lightbulb* moments for parents. I'm no parenting goddess, I generally am very aware of my shortcomings......but JEEZ, if this is like the gold standard of Kindy preparedness, we are cool. (luckily the list said nothing about parents being able to spell the actual grade. Relief.)
It was funny, a parent two behind me looked familiar. When I turned to leave I told her so, and asked if she went to ACAC. Sure enough, we knew one another (visually) from the pool, and our boys are friends from kids zone, so we introduced ourselves. Went two steps further and ran into Katie Miller, my friend and neighbor, registering her Maddie. Left with big Jake and ran to Wegmans as the gym was out at this point. Standing in the produce section at Wegmans, I saw Allison (new kindy Mom friend from line). Laughed about me not stalking her. As I was in the checkout aisle I hear "MELIS!" and looked up and one row over was Katie Miller. All three of us, doing the exact same thing, at the exact same time. Too weird. Lest I ever think that I am unique, the microcosm of our community reinforces the idea that I am just like everyone else. This is good.
I'm excited for this. I'm excited for Luke. He's ready. I'm ready. The bus gives me panic attacks, so I'm going to wait on being anxious about that until later on. Prepare yourself for anxious irrational bus psychosis in the future. For now, all is well. My Luke is registered for Kindy. Since I don't know how to spell it right, I will refer to it as Kindy or simply K from here on out.
I love my love letter from my Son. I get amazed at how much my kids are learning, considering I teach them very little other than kindness, friendship, and a shitload about sports. It's like some little elves sneak in and teach them letters or reading while I'm sleeping. It's all good.
