No matter how much I try to stop time and keep Carter as my sweet little boy, it's not working! As a result, earlier this week we found ourselves at Kindergarten orientation!
We obviously went through this five years ago with Jacob, so I pretty much knew what to expect, but I wasn't sure how Carter would react to his first look at Kindergarten. The funny thing is, we're in that school all the time since it's where Jacob goes to the afterschool program. But it's a whole different story when we're there for Carter! All year, since I realized that he'd be there within a year, I'd marvel at the thought of my sweet little boy being in that big school all by himself. Carter just seems so much younger than Jacob at the same age. I mean, I had similar concerns with Jacob, but they were more rooted in the ADHD-like symptoms he had then, rather than just seeming, well, young. As difficult as he was, Jacob had a maturity to him. Carter still seems a little more babyish sometimes, but I'm not sure if it's because he's smaller, or we baby him too much, or he just has a more innocent, eager personality that contrasts with the seriousness that Jacob often exhibited.
Based on how he seamlessly interacted with the kids at my Geneseo reunion, I figured Carter would settle in pleasantly well with the other kids, but you just never know. I dropped him off with the teachers and after a couple hugs, he was fine. We did have a pleasant surprise when we came up to the teachers, though. We'd been tipped off by our friend who works at the school that there had been a change in the teaching staff. It turned out that Jacob's second grade teacher, who he liked, is now going to be teaching Kindergarten. Unfortunately, his old Kindergarten teacher, who we did not like, still is as well. Our friend actually recommended Carter to another teacher she thought would fit him best, so I'm hopeful that between the two, maybe we'll get a good one. I really just don't want him getting Jacob's Kindergarten teacher because she did not get him and I have really negative feelings about our interactions with her. She just didn't know what to do with him, and while I appreciate the long-term result of her frustrations getting us a head start on the evaluation path, I really hated how difficult things were for him under her that year. I cried in the parent-teacher conference, for Pete's sake. Not great. Just seeing her again brought back such bad memories, so hopefully any other option will be better.
Carter is a sweet kid and is mostly well-behaved, but it's hard to tell what Kindergarten will be like for him. He loves playing, which isn't really a Kindergarten thing anymore, and he seems to have a much tougher time with writing than Jacob ever did. I think he learns facts really well--so things like science and history seem like an easier sell--but reading and writing are huge parts of Kindergarten so I worry how that will go. On the behavior side, sometimes he is immediately cooperative, and sometimes he's impossible. It's not the constant barrage we had with Jacob, but when he does it, it catches you off-guard a bit. He's very used to his teachers at daycare, but who knows how he will respond to a new one. I'm also concerned about having both boys at the afterschool program together, given how they behave at home. Hopefully they can keep them apart as much as possible, unless they discover some sort of common bond before then!
Anyway, in reading back what was covered at Jacob's orientation, it appears the topics were similar, but they were done in a different way. Instead of sitting in one room the whole time, they gave us the bulk of the info in one spot, and then moved us into the gym for rotating small group sessions with the nurse, counselor/social worker, occupational/speech therapists, and the parent liaison who also spoke about the PTA. From there we did the building tour, which I clearly didn't need, and then it was back to the cafeteria for the transportation session. After that, we got to retrieve our kids and go on the bus with them, which was a step they did parent-less when Jacob did it.
When I picked him up from his room, he was happily watching Peppa Pig (one of his recent favorites). He had colored a picture and seemed to have had a good time. We hopped on a bus for a ride, and of course it was selfie time!
The ride was short, but he seemed to enjoy it. Now we have to figure out if we can get him up and out early enough to catch the bus! There's at least a couple kids from the neighborhood who he'd be on the bus with--and his brother for a year if Jacob would actually ride the bus. I actually found out this week through an impromptu walk with the next door neighbor mom and kid that the mom is trying to figure out a way to avoid Greece schools--either private school or a couple moving scenarios--but she seems very unsure so we'll see if she can figure it out before he needs to end up at our school in the fall by default. It'd be a shame to lose them just when the boys are getting friendly, but it's not really our call.
Listening to the speakers was a nice refresher on things, and there were even a few new things, but it was nice to not get overwhelmed like I did the first time. The only thing that struck me differently is that I had to worry about so many little things with Jacob because of his challenges, and then again there were some things I was just able to ignore, like buying lunch, because of his Celiac Disease. So, for example, while I didn't have to assume we'd be using the counselor as much this time around, I did have to think about the logistics of possibly having Carter buy lunch. As much as a lot of this is familiar, I'm sure we have new experiences ahead!
Anyway, after a very busy week, Carter is taking another big boy step this weekend by staying alone with Grandma and Grandpa while Craig is traveling for work and Jacob and I are doing his first lacrosse tournaments of the summer. More on that stuff in another post...
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