"Twas The Night Before Kindergarten

"'Twas The Night Before Kindergarten" -- A Recap of the Past 16 Hours:

(poem excerpts by Natasha Wing)

‘Twas the night before kindergarten and as they prepared,

kids were excited and a little bit scared.

They tossed and they turned about in their beds,

while visions of school supplies danced in their heads.

Erasers and crayons and pencils galore

were stuffed in their backpacks and set by the door.

...all of this is required to start public Kindergarten these days!

Outfits were hung in closets with care,

knowing that kindergarten soon would be there.

In the morning it came – school starts today!

Would the teacher be nice? Would they still get to play?

Faces were washed, and teeth were brushed white;

Kids posed for pictures with eyes sparkling bright.

Parents packed snacks and kids hopped in cars

As if they were boarding a spaceship to Mars.

So last night I knew Rob would have a hard time settling down and going to sleep.  We tried to have a calm bedtime with a good routine.  First, Rob was presented with "Ready Confetti", a concoction of magic confetti to be sprinkled under your child's pillow.  It helps you relax, sleep easily, and wake up ready to start the new year.

We then read a bedtime story about a mouse named Henry who starts Kindergarten and is very happy to discover how cool Kindergarten is!

Before bed, Rob and I talked one more time about what he should expect for the first day.  I got extremely teary eyed, but reminded Rob that they were happy tears because I was so proud of how well he has grown up and how excited I am for this next phase of his life...to which Rob promptly responded that I was embarrassing him.  He begged me "Please don't cry tomorrow morning at the bus stop."

Rob decided that he needed all of his friends to sleep with him in his bed.  Sounds like he's ready for bed and ready to get the new year started, right?  Wrong!  He came back downstairs several times to tell me his confetti was broken.  He couldn't sleep.  He needed to go to the restroom.  He was thirsty.  It took forever for Rob to go to sleep.  But sleep he finally did...

This morning Rob woke up almost before I did!  He came bounding into my room with a great big "Good Morning!"  He ate breakfast, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and got dressed with no hesitation!  He was bugging me to head to the bus stop to board his 7:00 bus by 6:35!  Luckily for documentation sake I didn't let him leave the house without some obligatory photographs:

My silly boy.  Check out the fog in the background.  It did not make for very good first-day pictures. 
Oh well...

Rob insisted on walking to the bus stop, which picks up at the end of our street.  Don't worry; the mother-hen that I am followed him in my car!

Rob was a little more timid once we got to the stop.  He hopped back into my car and would not get out and interact with the other neighborhood kids.  I had a promise to keep (no tears) so I kept focused on the clock.  Finally the bus arrived -- bus #05-23 which we have been memorizing for several days now.  My sweet baby big kid boarded the bus and didn't even look back to wave at me.  He was on an I'm-Going-To-Kindergarten mission! 

...and that's pretty much when I totally lost it and sobbed all the way back up the street to my garage!