Tour of Kindergarten for Thomas

Unlike Kindergarten registration, this scheduled tour we did not forget. Probably because every day one of us would remind the other about it. Thankfully, I did not have to be in court this afternoon, so there were no distractions, and Lil graciously agreed to listen for Cooper while he napped.
I checked in with Teacher Kathy last week about Tommy's progress this year. We missed his scheduled teacher conference date due to our quarantine back before the trip, but Kathy told me that she was so thankful we had missed that week, as that had been the most sick class week we've had all year, and even she got sick. So, the report she went over with me was wonderful for us to see. Tommy is right on track to start school this fall, and doing very well in school. He does seem to dislike group work, and she has noted that she needs to focus on giving him more individual time to learn. He said to John the other day that he hates circle time. When I've watched him, he gets frustrated with the chaos around him, with kids juggling for attention, yelling out things at random time, and the loud activity. He has to be "first" with the answer, and of course there is always someone yelling out stuff, so he gets frustrated and shuts down. I will make note of this with his new teacher, and can hopefully work through some of this with him.
Today, although excited about walking up, Tommy played a bit shy about the actual process. He hid behind John's legs for some of it, or held on tightly as we moved through the school. I could see that he was very curious about it all, but tentative at times. Ms. Hubner called all the children around for a story, including the "kinder-friends", and I had to encourage Tommy to have a seat. Once we stepped out of the room, though, he stayed back from the others but participated throughout. He was interested in the library, and wanted to check out a book before leaving. It was also great to see pictures of John as a little boy lining the hallways. They have kept record through the years, and the pictures of older classes line the walls. There is a class photo of John dated October 17th, 1975. He is such a cute little boy in the photo. I laughed, telling John that I was 12 days old when that photo was taken! Too funny!
I think there is some hesitation with this whole idea of Tommy starting school, of starting the long process. On one hand, we are excited about the activities and adventures this will bring. On the other, we dread the time lost with him. We enjoy him so much, enjoy our days with him, the time we can share together. We are thankful that here we still have half days, so that our afternoons can be spent playing with each other, visiting with friends and just "being"...We don't necessarily do grand things throughout the day, but the option is still there, the freedom of knowing if Grandpa wants to go out for an afternoon sail we can join in. If we want to go play, or go for a hike, or just sit around the beach...we can. Tommy is out of preschool this week. After the news of swine flu rampant last week, we decided at that time just to hang low this week and see where the ride went. Now that it has died down, I do not regret my decision to stay home. I have enjoyed easy mornings with the kids without the frantic hustle of getting ready for school. I have enjoyed my days off with the boys, enjoyed the lack of scheduled running around. And I won't hesitate to do it again if it happens again. I love any reason to keep my boys with me. It won't take much. My time with them is too short to waste one moment.