So. . .why am I nervous? Good question. . .thanks for asking. I'm nervous because Matt and I have made the decision to start Brooklyn off with her routine on Day 1. . which involves riding the bus. When I was in elementary school I lived less than 2 miles from the school at both of our houses (we moved school districts when I was in second grade) and therefore never understood that kids do ride the bus to elementary school. We live about 8 miles from Brooklyn's elementary school (this will change in the 2012 - 2013 school year - but for now we're 8 miles away) and therefore she rides the bus. As I mentioned before, said bus will pick her up at 6:45 AM at the end of our street and take her to school. She is bus stop number two (although I will probably take her to bus stop one so she can ride with the other kindergartners that are at stop one. .less than 15 steps from stop two) so will have quite a long ride ahead of her when she gets on. But, it's her reality and I'm sure she'll have a great time each morning on the bus. At least 9 of the kids in her class are on her bus . . what can I say, our neighborhood area has a lot of kiddos :)
I am mostly nervous that all the other moms in our subdivision will take their kiddos to the school on day 1. I thought about it, pondered it, etc. and ultimately decided that riding the bus on Day 1 will get all the newness out of the way on Day 1 and lay the groundwork for an awesome Day 2. I'll be there at the bus stop blowing kisses and waving to my big girl as she rides away. The good news is that Brooklyn has an awesome principal who waits by the front door every day for the kids' buses to arrive. . tells them good morning. .and ensures all the kids are headed in the right direction. We will have no problems at all. . . the mama bear in me is just a little nervous.
After school Brooklyn will ride on the daycare bus back to wrap-around-kindergarten which will provide her with a supplemental half day of kindergarten at the daycare. For those that don't know, our school district currently only has half-day kindergarten. . so when we returned to the US we intentionally enrolled Brooklyn in a center that provides programming for the other half of the day to supplement the work they are doing at school. Her teacher at the center is a college educated kindergarten teacher who works closely with our school district to ensure that the program is in lock-step with the school's program. Do we pay for it? YES. . way more than I'll ever admit. . . but honestly people, is there anything more vital and important than our kids' education? No offense intended to those that send their kids to a different type of daycare program where they spend the afternoon playing and running around, but that's just not what we have in mind for Brooklyn and if you knew Brooklyn you'd understand why. My kid is a rockstar when she's funneling her energy into active learning and projects. . she is not as much a rockstar in a less structured environment. I had to detox her yesterday from way too much free-play after I picked her up at daycare (the summer is much less structured than during the year). . and I don't care to do that every day. . . and to be honest I don't think she wants me to have to either.
So, tomorrow at about noon my world will become a lot less stressful. Brooklyn's daycare plans to call me (and the other parents with PM wrap-around-kindergartners) to inform me when Brooklyn arrives safe-and-sound at the daycare. . .and they assure me that Brooklyn's grade school is AWESOME at making sure that the kiddos get on the correct bus. Fingers crossed! I have had conversations with the school secretary and her teacher regarding the fact that Brooklyn should not get on the district school bus at the end of the morning, but that she should get on the Apple Tree bus. Apparently she is an apple that didn't fall far from the tree because apparently today she kept asking the director "Who will pick me up tomorrow? Who should I be looking for?" She also informed me that she will kindly tell her teacher "I only get on the bus with the apples on it" if she tries to put her on the standard school bus. My little Type A sweetie!
This mama bear needs a martini . . . unfortunately I doubt my OB would agree!!! :)
I thought I'd throw in these additional pictures of the weekend for good measure. . . . courtesy of grammy. . . enjoy!
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