Caden Goes to Kindergarten

Our little boy has stepped into the next 16+ years of his life with his first day of Kindergarten today. And he took the step with authority.

This day has been building up for the last year. Mostly in the minds of Mommy and Daddy, but recently, with Caden. As the day approached, he began to grasp what it was and the nerves started creeping up on him. From the back to school shopping and all the fretting Mom and Dad have been doing over the mounds of paperwork and preparation, it got to him. At the “Meet the Teacher” event, it hit him hard. All the kids, the noise, the chaos, he told us that he was really nervous, which made us even more nervous. But we spun it down a bit and enjoyed the last few days until it was time.

This morning, Caden woke up at 6:30 ready to go and full of excitement and trepidation. 6:30 was much too early for his 8am class. But blame that on us for telling how he was going to have to get up early and be ready to go instead of the lazy Summer mornings he’s been having. He was up, ate his breakfast, put on his new Super Man shirt and said, “Let’s bike to school!”. Alrighty then. So we all got bike gear on, put Molly into the trailer and followed Caden to school (about 2 miles). Got there with plenty of time and Caden hit the playground immediately. Katy and I and dozens of other parents wandered aimlessly waiting with as much, if not more, for that first “line-up” bell.

Then, it came and...it was totally anti-climatic.

Caden ran up to us and said, “Bye Mom, bye Dad, bye Molly” and that was it. He lined up, the teacher said all would be well, and he scooted into class without a look back. And there we were wondering what just happened? Where was that little boy who on the first day of pre-school screamed for his Mommy and Daddy the entire time (a look back here)? Where did all those nerves go from only a day ago? And why should we even ask? He did it. Exactly as he was supposed to but this time just us were left in tears...well mostly Mommy.

When we picked him up about 3 hours later, he was a Kindergartener. He loved it, told us everything. Like:

-P.E. was his favorite they ran, jumped and skipped

-The play areas were smaller than he thought

-His teacher’s name is pronounced, Miss NAH - SHOT - KA

-He didn’t make new friends yet, but he will

-He didn’t do the library today, but hopes to this week

-He had recess

-All in all “Yea, I REALLY liked it!”

What else can we say. We are so proud of you Caden. You go Superman.....

Favorite picture below, the rest here

He didn’t just survive Kindergarten, he school’d it.