A Beary Merry Christmas

Will's Christmas musical was last weekend. God bless his music teacher! What dedication!
Will was a polar bear :)

And the following picture just cracked me up. So indicative of their relationships - EK with Patrick in a headlock. Thankfully you can't see his bruised nose too much in this one. EK tripped over him, fell onto him, and smashed his face into the hardwood floor the day before this pic was taken. He was a bleeding mess. Not fun. He's a tough kid, though.

Kindergarten quotes of the day

Whispered to Justin as they enter the classroom: "Dad, why are all these kids crying?"

Clearly Will is adjusting just fine!

When I asked about what he did in math class today: "Just patterns and sorting shapes and stuff. We didn't do real math."

His poor teacher...the expectations are so high!

All in all, a great day. His after school care teacher said he was great and very talkative - a good sign that he's feeling comfortable, I think. He's pretty tired tonight, but that is to be expected.

Kindergarten

Today was Will's 1st day of kindergarten. He was, by all accounts, absolutely ready. He was happy, confident, and excited as we went in today. J & I both took him to school, walked in and got him settled (along with virtually every other parent at the school - those poor teachers!). He immediately started working on the activities set out for him. They had a short day today - 11 a.m. dismissal. J & I picked him up. Will immediately says "It was good. I'll tell you everything we did when we get in the car." I'm sure he could tell we were anxious to hear. He then proceeded to give us nearly a moment by moment account (including bathroom breaks, what he did at recess, the birthday treat from a classmate, etc.). Tomorrow will be his first full day, so that will be more telling, but I have no reason to think he won't love it. And, he gets to take his lunch, which he is totally excited about.

I must admit that I've had some anxiety over all this. Mostly coming from my own anxiety about new places and new experiences (this seems to have heightened as I've gotten older - weird). His calmness made my anxiety subside substantially today. He was happy. I was happy. Of course, I still worry about little things - what if he can't open the containers in his lunch box? Can he unbuckle and buckle his own belt at bathroom breaks? (Answer: No, the skinny kid just pulls his shorts down, still buttoned and belt still buckled. Whatever - I guess it worked.) Until he becomes worried or anxious, I'll just enjoy his happiness and love of this new adventure. I told J last night that I did look around and think about who might be a life-long friend that he might meet for the first time today. Both J & I have friends from our kindergarten days. It's fun to think about Will starting some relationships like that.

Will's teacher seems great. She enjoys teaching kindergarten - how can she not be great? We went to school supply drop off last week and Will got to meet her then. He put his supplies away, checked out his locker and the classroom. We paid fees, signed up for who knows what, and then were on our way. W was telling J about it when we got home and J asked how many kids were in his class. "Well, there were 3 groups of 6 desks and 1 group of 5." He was right. I saw the class list and knew there were 23 kids. Will's mathematical little mind noticed the groupings of desks. We hadn't discussed this while we were there and I wouldn't have come up with that at all after spending the exact same amount of time in there. His little brain is so fascinating to me.

The obligatory 1st day photos follow. He was a good sport about taking so many pictures. I also asked him a couple questions that I'll hopefully remember to ask at the start of each school year.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
W: A football player. For Kansas. [hey! he might be good enough :)] But I'm not sure after that. Maybe I'll play for the Chiefs. [He's a homer, no doubt.]

Me: What do you hope to learn this year?
W: How to read super long chapter books. [Hmm...this doesn't seem like something on the kindergarten docket....but who knows, maybe it will happen!]

Notice little sister in the background. She desperately wants to go to kindergarten, too!

"silly pose"

Yay! They're all looking at the camera! P promptly began tumbling down the stairs after this photo. Luckily J was within arms reach and caught him.

Walking into school

Lockers for kindergarteners - this kills me!

At his desk

Listening carefully to Mrs. Tripp

February and still pregnant

Hooray! We've made it to February! I'm actually going to give birth in the month I'm due -- what a new concept for me!

We had our 37 wk check-up on Monday. All seems good. Baby is positioned a little funny (diagonal - with his head pushing into my hip) so all the contractions aren't resulting in much change. Late last week and over the weekend I was feeling like we could be close. Now, I'm not really sure. The doc says she thinks it could be double-digit February. Baby is still growing and I'm still measuring big, so we'll just see what happens. Since I'm technically full-term, I don't have to be on bed rest anymore. She still advised me not to travel to work (40 min away) or keep the kids home from school all day, but I can make little trips out of the house. So, yesterday, I took full advantage of the 65+ degree weather and did just that. I made a trip to Target, bought many, many organizational supplies and came home and tidied and organized. Nesting? Maybe.

Last night J&I went to the kindergarten information meeting for Will. So hard to believe that is just around the corner! Got good info, met the teachers, saw the classrooms, etc. Will is really, really excited. We've been talking a little bit about it and how it will be different from where he's at now.

Both Will & Elle are growing in anticipation for the arrival of their baby brother. Especially now that's it's February, they are quite excited. Will is predicting days that correspond with KU basketball games. I'm thinking maybe 2/5 (to go along with our 25th b-days). Justin has requested, if at all possible, to avoid 8-10:30 p.m. this Saturday so he can catch the KU-MU game. Priorities...