First Day of School - Kindergarten!

The big day is finally here. I've been thinking about this day before I even knew Trace would be coming into our lives. After much debate with ourselves and countless others, we decided to let Trace try and attend the closest public school in the "Canyon" School District near our home before exploring any charter schools or private schools. We basically don't have the money to do both daycare and private school and I just mostly want him to have fun, gain friends and have his first real exposure to learning be a pleasant one. We had contact with the trainer for the teachers in the Canyon district and without our prompting, she said East Sandy Elementary is a great school with a great principal, so that put a few of our fears to rest. Another cool thing about this monumental day is that the first day of school for Kindergartners was August 24th, 2015! Trace's 6th birthday! What a cool coincidence! So, I was super lucky and got to see Trace a bit on the first day when I brought in his birthday treat for his class. He wanted cookies, not cake or cupcakes for his birthday treat, so I went to a local bakery and picked up the cookies and a balloon for his surprise. He is in the morning kindergarten class and his teacher is Mrs. Tammy Goodwater. She is from San Diego and been teaching at East Sandy for years. As I dropped him off in the morning, I watched lots of Mom's being consoled by Dad's and wiping tears from their eyes. I remained strong and made it in the car and long enough to call Kevin on the phone, tell him Trace made it in okay and burst into tears. My baby boy is not such a baby anymore and I think it was made more real with the day being his 6th birthday as well. When I arrived at the school later that day with the treats, I checked in and made my way back to his classroom. They were in the middle of being read a story about a little mouse that was both nervous and excited for a new adventure. When they were done with the story, they were asked to choose a different color square based upon whether they were excited to start school or nervous. I got to watch and see that without hesitation, Trace went over a grabbed a square to mark that he was excited, and not nervous. I was so happy! He told me later that he was a little nervous when waiting outside in the morning, but when he got inside he was okay. They don't offer full day Kindergarten, so he only goes from 8:10am to 10:55am each day except Fridays when they have early day and they get out just after 10. On Monday through Wednesday he is picked up in the bus from "Mother's Helper" daycare and they take him to the center until Kevin or I can pick him up. On most Thursday and Fridays, Kevin is there when they get out and together they head home or of to run errands. I had the whole day off from work and had planned to just pick him up and take him for a first day treat of ice cream or something, but Kevin said it would be a good idea to just let the bus pick him up like "normal" so I can make sure that he gets where he's supposed to the first day. I had told him numerous times before that day that after Kindergarten was over he should look for the white bus and that would be the bus for his "little school" and I'd pick him up from there. What I failed to realize is that there are about 5 white buses that pick up kids from school at his Kindergarten and I panicked when I found that out! Nevertheless, I waited in the parking lot and watched to see what would happen. When they come out of the school, the rule is you have to give a high five to Mrs. Goodwater if you see your Mom or Dad there to pick you up and then she helps the rest of the kids get on the right bus. When I later asked Trace about the buses, he told me that you have to look for the bus with the lady reading a story to kids on the side. "That's the Mothers Helper bus, Mom.". Seems like he's got it all figured out.  I hope that his start of school is a good experience, that he grows, learns a lot and remembers that his Mommy loves him so very much.

One cool kid!

Had to show me his new Spider-Man backpack

My heart is melting!

Ready to do this Mom!

After the bell rings, they leave the playground and stand against the wall. He chose to stand right by his best friend from Mothers Helper, Matthew. Matthew is also adopted, but several months younger than Trace. Trace will be one of the oldest in his class and Matthew will be one of the youngest, but they play really well together and I was glad to see them in the same class this year. 

This is the reading of the mouse story. I snapped a picture before I went into class. If you look carefully, you can see Trace just noticed it was me at the door. 

This is a picture of Mrs. Tammy Goodwater. She seems like a great teacher.