Last Day of First Grade

Yes indeed - today is the last day of school for Kelton! In one hour and 24 minutes I will have a second grader living in the house. I am so proud of my little guy - he has done such a great job in school this year. The things he has learned have amazed me and, looking back, he has grown by leaps and bounds in both the physical AND academic manner. The first grade of today is not at all like the first grade of my time (you know - back when dinosaurs roamed free). The things they know coming out of first grade is truly something.

The year has gone by so quickly - it seems like not that long ago that we were putting him on the bus for his first full day at school. Well - for that matter it seems like not that long ago we were leaving a tearful little guy in his kindergarten room.....and now? Now we have this fantastic kid poised to step into second grade.

Like last year, Kelton opted to wear the exact same clothes for the last day as he wore on the first. I went through the photos yesterday to refresh my memory and then I went through his closet to find the shirt. Sadly though I didn't look closely enough at the photos to realize he was wearing his light brown cords and not jeans. I completely spaced on the fact that he refused to wear jeans back then because of the snap/button issue. Since he lost so much weigh over the year, he can now shimmy them on and off without needing to unsnap or botton. See? Who said losing all that weight didn't have an upside?) I find it odd in some ways that he hasn't really outgrown his clothes since kindergarten because yes, he can still wear the shirt he wore to his first and last day of kindergarten. A few random things here and there have been outgrown but mostly, it's all the same stuff. I see it good in this way: I have very little back to school clothes shopping to do for him since I still have the bin of stuff in the garage that I had bought for him to wear this year that he hasn't yet grown into. :)

And now for the compare and contrast part of the fun......take a look at how much my guy has changed in the past 9 months. I am stunned because, to me, he looks exactly the same and always has. But clearly the photos tell another story. Such a big kid he is now.

Introducing........

.....Jack!





Jack comes to us from the Magic Tree House series (one of Kelton's favorite series). Jack and his younger sister, Annie (played by Kaylen in the photos), find a magic tree house that takes them back in time for adventures as they try to complete tasks set for them by Morgan, the keeper of the tree house secrets. If you haven't yet experienced the Magic Tree House series with your kids, you should. They are chapter books which make excellent bedtime stories.

Jack wears glasses, t-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes. He carries a backpack that holds his beloved notebook, pen and book about where ever they have been sent.

As for as costumes goes, it was a piece of cake...which is good because Kelton decided a full 7 minutes before the bus arrived that he did indeed want to go as Jack. Thank goodness I had a pair of sunglasses I didn't mind sacrificing for the greater good. :)

The ironic and funny part of this? Jack is the name I had originally wanted to name Kelton. So I had a great time saying "Goodbye Jack! Have a good day!" as he climbed on the bus. :)

First Grade School Picture

Just look at my baby!!!! (I'm not thrilled with the picture - I think they could have gotten him to smile and considering I was standing just off to the side when it was taken, I know for a fact that he *was* smiling - just not at the exact moment it was taken. Oh well. Next year. :))


And then look at him this time last year. Wow! He has changed so darn much! Long gone are those round baby cheeks. :)

The First Day in Review

From all accounts, it sounds like Kelton's first day went well. This afternoon Kaylen and I walked to the bus stop to anxiously await his return. Finally...finally...the bus pulls up and my boy scrambles off and into my waiting arms. I couldn't hold back the tears - I was so happy to see him!

He looked and me and said "You missed me, didn't you?" I nodded my head in agreement but words failed me. Oh yes, my child. I absolutely missed you. He hugged me hard and we started home.

As we walked, he suddenly asked if he could go to Josh's house to play because everyone at school wanted to talk with him and he didn't have time to play with Josh. (or was it that Kelton had to talk with everyone else? That's probably more what it was. He's such a social guy!) Ummm....no! No you may not leave - are you freaking kidding me? I've missed you like crazy all day and the first thing you ask to do is leave? NO way buddy - you're MINE! MINE MINE MINE!!!!! I am not sharing you anymore today so there!

But what I said out loud was that he would see Josh again in the morning but this was family time and I wanted to spend time with him and hear all about his day. So grown up of me, don't you think? :)

To my surprise, he wasn't as exhausted as I had anticipated. For a full hour he was happy and chatty and I soaked it all in. I started asking questions and he said he would tell me - but only me. "Not Kaylen." So we set Kaylen up with NickJr online and Kelton asked me to come into his room for some "alone time" (she was happy to be left to her own devices and didn't seem to care that we disappeared). It was quite the honor to be invited into his room for alone time. Usually - he just wants to be alone in there.

We snuggled on his bed and he talked all about his day. He likes his teacher, he saw his kindergarten teacher and talked with her a little, he knows which rooms all his kindergarten friends were assigned to, he has already made a new friend in his room, he ate his lunch in the lunchroom and guess what? Instead of the three recesses I said he would have they only have two. And guess what else? They get to have computer lab!! He ate most of his lunch but wanted to know if he could buy a hot lunch someday....

Oh my goodness - he just talked and talked. Then he asked if I missed him a lot (I said I did) and said he missed me too.

He didn't have to tell me with words - just telling me about his day told me all I needed to know about how much he missed me. Normally, when asked about his day (or well...anything) he's response is "I don't remember." and that's it. For him to go on and on and on and then ask me to play with him for a while well- it told me all I needed to know. My boy missed me but he had had a good day.

And he wants to go back. Which is awesome. He was never that keen on kindergarten so I held my breath not knowing what today would bring but I think it's all good (of course I thought that after the first day of kindergarten too so time will tell). He isn't crazy about the bus ride home (he is next to the last stop) but I explained that if I drove to pick him up, he'd probably not be home any earlier than the bus could get him here since we'd have so many cars and buses to maneuver through. He will stick with the bus a few more days and we'll re-evaluate. Honestly, from the time school is out until the bus arrives here, it's only 20 minutes. I think he'll adjust.

By 5:15pm he was a tired lump of a boy on the couch. He hardly ate dinner, refused ice cream and just seemed "done". It had been a very big day for my guy. He was fast asleep by 7pm. Those three precious hours with him home tonight sure went fast. Too fast. *sigh*

So - all in all, a good day for Kelton. I had a rough day emotionally and the tears would spring up every now and then but I made it through. At one point Kaylen said "It's so quiet without Kelton here." Too quiet indeed.

It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds for the three of us. It's a new world and it's going to take some time to adjust. Probably more time for me than for anyone. But what else is new in that, eh?

First Day of First Grade

And off he goes................

He said "I'm going to miss you, Mom." to which I replied "I'm going to miss you, too, baby." Such a sweet, tender and unexpected moment.

Our neighbor, Josh, is in Kelton's class. Kelton is thrilled to know someone to ride the bus with and declared that this year, he is riding both to and from school. I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. I'm going to miss drop off and pick up but I am happy he is comfortable with the bus this year. At least, so far. :)

Saying goodbye to his sister.

And there he goes!

We were all waiting for him at school when he arrived.

Waiting outside his classroom.

Have a great day, baby boy of mine. I'm missing you more than you will ever understand. I'm so lucky and blessed to have had you to myself all these years. What a gift for both you *and* me. I love you, bug.

Sniff Sniff

Can you smell it? Change is in the air. It's all around us. Things smell different today. September is here full force and with it comes many changes.

For a lot of us, September is more like starting a new year than January. So to that end: Happy New Year, Everyone! :)

We have Open House tonight at Kelton's school and then tomorrow...ah tomorrow. Tomorrow morning school starts. Amazing.

In true Casey style of "If you can't beat them, join them." I pulled out the bin of autumn decorations and the kids I decked out the house for fall. There is no denying it - Autumn is here and the school bell tomorrow signals the start to be sure.

First grade. Wow. How did that happen? I remember when Kelton was 5 months old and I was sitting on the couch holding him in my arms as he nursed and slept. I remember clearly the sound of the school bus pulling up next door to pick up the group of happy chatting children. I remember thinking, as I held my sleeping infant snugly "It will be forever before you are old enough to worry about going to school."

How fast the years fly by.

The days indeed go slowly but the years - they fly by before you know it.