Kindergarten Test Run

Yep. The "K" word. Comin' right at us. Yikes! Only a few more months of them being preschoolers. I JUST got used to them not being "toddlers" anymore and now I have to retrain myself again? *sigh*

This was our 3rd visit to their school and I think they get one more trip for a bus ride or something and then the real deal in September. Unless I decide to home school of course. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa! As scary as the idea of sending them off into the big bad world of elementary school seems, keeping them home would be MUCH more hazardous to the mental and physical well being of everyone involved.

So, they have to go. Ready or not. The question I constantly get these days is "WHAT are you going to DO when they go to school?!?!?!?!?" Well obviously, being the big sap that I am, I will cry when they go off the first time. Then, there is a huuuuuuuuuuuge list of neglected things that I've been piling, setting aside saying "soon they'll be gone and I'll have time to do that, to finish that, to sort that, to clean that, to scrapbook that, to organize that, to declutter that..... so my standard answer to the "what are you going to do?" question, is "WHATEVER I WANT!!!!!!!!" I have no set plan, the concept of having several uninterrupted hours to accomplish tasks from start to finish is just such a foreign concept to me now that I can't really envision that there will be such a thing! I'll believe it when I see it. For all those concerned, rest assured, it will take a goooooooooood long while before I'm bored! Between school holidays, colds & flu, storm days etc I doubt I'll have all that much leisure time. So far I still enjoy being home, doing the mum thing and I don't want to miss it! They've gone from 0-5 in a blink and everyone tells me it just goes faster once they're in school so if that's true 18 will be here way too fast. I'm too nosey & too selfish to give those years to anybody else (I reserve the right to change my mind on that between 12-18 ;))). A friend of mine from the bank once told me that the time her kids were home growing up was really just so short and now they've been gone for years and she said she has the rest of her life to work. So that sounds like a good idea to me and if you're one of the many people wondering about it, I have no burning desire to jump back into the workforce. Like I tell the kids all the time, different people like different things, and I like being home. (well, most of the time anyway!)

The visit went fairly well at the school this time. There are going to be quite a few kindergarteners this year so the split the visits up into two time slots and then subdivided our group into two classrooms for them to go check out & do an activity while the health nurse & the principal talked to the parents. Lovey's shoe fell off as the kids were leaving & she got separated from her sisters and in a different room. When they came back out she ran to me and was quite upset about it but said she didn't cry in the classroom. They've all said they want to be in the same classroom next year so I think she was afraid that the seperation was going to happen. I told her it was just for today & that we were going to tell the school that we wanted them to stay together. That seemed to make her feel better.

Then came the bus ride. Sweetie had been anxious about this before we ever got to the school. She'd said she didn't want to go without me and had asked several times for me to stay with her. I tried to remain noncommittal as I wasn't sure if parents were allowed to go on. We got lined up to go on and none of the parents were going. Uh oh. She went on with her sisters and didn't seem too concerned so I didn't say anything. The principal went on with them and closed the doors while the busdriver talked to the parents about the route, the rules, pick up times etc. Then I heard some screaming and thought, "hmmm wonder who's having trouble?" Then I heard higher pitched, more frantic screaming and thought "uh oh, that sounds kinda familiar". Then I heard mounting panic type screaming and wondered no more. Sweetie had realized I wasn't on the bus and wanted off. The principal kept them there and made her wait until the bus driver was done. I was torn as I didn't want her having a traumatic experience when it was supposed to be a nice friendly orientation! Let the scarring for life stuff wait at least til the school year starts! On the other hand, I didn't want to come off as one of those over protective mothers who fly off the handle just because Jr. has a little scare.... So I just waited. The doors opened and Sweetie came flying down the stairs, tears streaming down her face as she launches herself at me.

She calmed down rather quickly but her sisters were still on there, waiting for the ride. I took Sweetie back on as the other parents were all getting in. There weren't any seats left so I had to ask Lovey & Honey to come back off. They couldn't figure out why they couldn't go. "but we're ready! WE have seats Mum! Why can't we stay???? We want to go for the ride!!!!!!!!" They didn't want to miss anything! The driver was doing a 2nd run so I told them they'd get a turn when the bus came back.

They only went around the block and were back in no time and then we got to go on. Sweetie clamped right onto my hand and made sure I sat with her. No problem, the other 2 could have cared less if I was even there so no one fought over me at all. Sweetie was surprised when the bus pulled away slowly from the curb. She looked at me with big eyes and said "I thought it would take off like a ROCKET!!!!!!!" Our trip around the block went pretty quickly and as we got off she went up to the principal and said "Sorry about all the screaming" The principal nodded and said "well I think you were just nervous" and Sweetie agreed and then we all left.

Later that night at bedtime Sweetie couldn't sleep because she was scared. She was curled up in her bed, crying and crying. When I asked her what was the matter, she said "I'm scared of the bus!" Great. we have bus trauma! I asked what she was afraid of and she said she thought she'd fall out of her seat and wanted to know why she couldn't have her booster and a seatbelt! (why is that anyway? we've been harping on them for 5 years about being strapped in!) I talked about how big and tough the bus was compared to our little car and that seemed to make some sense (totally talking out my butt there, I have no stats to say that bus passengers fare better in an accident than belted car passengers!)

When she woke up the next day she told me that she didn't think she was as afraid of the bus anymore. So hopefully that will diminish further as we get closer to September!!!!!!!