Noah’s “Kindergarten Countdown”

We took Noah to his Kindergarten Countdown last night — an open house of sorts for kids and parents to have a chance to meet their teachers, tour the school, ride a bus and just get a bit acquainted with the school before the first day of class (which is September 7th, the day before Noah’s sixth birthday).
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The twins stayed behind in the child care room and separated easily without even a backward glance at me as I left the room.  I don’t think they would be so fearless if they didn’t have each other; it makes me wonder what decision I should make in a couple of years when they are ready for Kindergarten themselves. Should I keep them in a class together?  Should I let them be separated?  How do I know what the “right” choice is?
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Noah was a little shy when we first found his classroom and met his teacher, Mrs. Tschida (pronounced “cheetah” so he thought that was pretty cool), but there were different activity centers set up to explore while we waited for all of the classmates and their families to filter in so it was only a few minutes before he was warmed up and feeling brave.  Furthermore, there were at least two other children there from his preschool class so it was a fun reunion for them.
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The parents separated from the children after a little while and went to the media center to talk to the school’s superintendent, the bus company director, etc.  Andy and I were really surprised that a lot of the parents looked younger than us; typically we always end up feeling like the “young ones” among the parents of kids Noah’s age, but there were lots of parents who were younger.  Noah’s teacher is young, too — the “About Me” poster on her classroom wall says she is 28, though I would have guessed she was younger than that.
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Halfway through the meeting, we heard children laughing and talking in the hallway and looked out in time to see Mrs. Tschida leading the class down the hall towards the busing area, all the children in a line holding on to a rope.  Noah was the “line leader”.  About 20 minutes later when the class walked by again in the other direction, he was at the front of the line once again.  Andy and I laughed, wondering how he ended up with that “honor” both times.  After watching him with his brother and sister for the past three years, I’ve come to the conclusion that Noah is a very resourceful kid and he can be pretty manipulative when he wants to get his way.  I bet he figured out a way to be the line leader while still convincing the other children that he was doing them a favor by taking the job.  Ha!
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At the end of the evening, the doors to the media center opened and the superintendent stopped in the middle of his speech about bus safety and said, “And now, introducing… THE CLASS OF 2023!!” and the children ran in to find their parents.  Noah was at the front of the line again and I alternated between thinking, “The class of 2023?!” and “Oh man, is he going to be one of those kids who is always at the front of the line, always the first to raise his hand, always volunteering to help the teacher…?”  Hahah!  Such a good kid; I love him to pieces.
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He is definitely excited to start Kindergarten and I am excited for him.  This morning he said, ”I wish I could go to school today!”  He is especially excited that his birthday is the second day of school and that he will be able to bring mini-cupcakes to share with his classmates.  What he doesn’t know is that we have a whole day of fun planned for him; we’ll pick him up from the bus stop when he gets home at noon and then we are taking the kids to the Mall of America to spend the afternoon at the Nickelodeon theme park there.  He is going to be beside himself with excitement.
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Everyone keeps asking me if I’m going to be OK on the first day of school.  Will I be able to handle it when I watch my first baby get on the school bus for the first time?  Am I going to cry all morning?  It may be because I am in a bit of denial right now, but at the moment I don’t foresee a huge issue for me.  Maybe it’s because he was in preschool last year so I was able to ease into it.  Maybe it’s because the twins at home are so much work that I don’t expect to have much opportunity to think about being sad that Noah is in school.  Maybe once the day is here I will surprise myself and be a complete blubbering mess.  I will soon find out! 

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