Eli's 1st Day of Kindergarten

I'm pathetically behind with blogging, but wanted to do a few catch-up posts of some of the bigger events lately - one of which was Eli's first day of kindergarten. I was really sad that day, but it's been great so far and Eli has adjusted really well. There are three kindergarten classes at his school, and his class has 21 kids. One impressive thing is his teacher visited every child and family at home for an hour at a time before the school year began. So he was already familiar with his teacher and that made the transition a lot easier. 

Here's Eli with our sweet neighbor Oliver, who is an experienced pro at this school and walked with Eli onto the playground that first morning. It meant a lot to have someone a little older watching out for Eli, especially on days that they ride the bus. Oliver often sits with Eli on the bus. And just about every morning, he stops at our house on the way to the bus stop to pick up Eli to walk with him and his mom (this is a huge lifesaver!!).

A NOT cute picture of me with my boys. Hello 9-month pregnant big belly, fat face, eyes about to well up with tears... :) It was ridiculously humid that morning too, so I remember feeling super hot and gross as we were out on the playground. 

Eli of course had picked out an Angry Birds backpack for school this year, much to my chagrin :) But this one was better than some of the others I'd seen (and I haven't seen any other kids in his class with this same backpack, so that makes it easy for him to keep track of). 

This sour face was after a mom in the crowd accidentally spilled her coffee on Eli's new school shoes. He wasn't pleased, but I was very grateful he held it together and didn't get crazy upset/teary. 

Finally heading in to the school - Eli went in without tears and I tried not to cry watching him :)Afterward - Charlie was the only little kid left on the cement and hopped quietly from star to star. I felt sad for him losing his best friend and playmate to all-day kindergarten. But we've had some good quality time together since school started, and I've noticed he has thrown a lot fewer fits lately too. 

I got an email from a mom of a little boy in Eli's class on that first day, and she said her son came home from school and told her Eli was his best friend. :) Made me smile. I'm really relieved it's gone so well and grateful for a great school and nice kids who go there.