It's official. I'm the parent of a Kindergartener.

Thursday was Joshua's first day of Kindergarten. I don't know how it's done throughout the country, but here, Kindergarteners have staggered entry days. The Kindergarteners are broken down into three groups with one group going Tuesday, one going Wednesday and one going Thursday. Thursday was Joshua's assigned day. Tuesday, he cried because he couldn't go on the first day. He didn't understand why he had to wait until Thursday. I didn't dare tell him that his best bud Ben went on Wednesday. I guess staggered entry is a good thing. The teachers only have 6 or 7 kids for the day instead of 20. The kids have less competition for attention.

We all gathered outside the cafeteria and waited for the teachers to come meet us. There were lots of picture taking and video taping going on. I took Joshua's picture before we left home and I didn't even take my camera to school with me. I'm not sure if he is still too young to be embarassed by all the picture taking that moms tend to do but I didn't want to press my luck. And, I didn't even cry!

Amazingly, Joshua was most forthcoming with information about his day. After preschool, I could get nothing from him unless I asked direct pointed questions and then it he gave very little info. But yesterday afternoon, wow! They did a shortened version of the daily routine. First, they had circle time and the teacher read a book...but he couldn't remember what the book was about. Next, they did an activity...he drew a picture of an apple tree. Then, they went outside where he mostly climbed on some red thing and hung upside down. He bought his lunch, chicken nuggets, tater tots and peaches, and carried the tray by himself. After lunch is a little sketchy...they did another activity, he chose pattern blocks and chose a hard one, a pineapple. They also went outside a second time. They did an abbreviated rest time but didn't get out their towels. And, they had snack time. We were able to pick him up a few minutes early that day.

Friday afternoon was no class for kindergarteners but we did have meet the teacher that afternoon. I met the teacher, the teacher assistant and the student teacher that will be helping on Wednesdays. They all seemed super nice. Matthew from soccer and t-ball is in his class. Ben is in the class next door...they share a hallway and a bathroom so they could potentially throw things at each other if they wanted to (Joshua overheard me tell someone this and he said matter of factly, The teacher isn't going to let us throw things at each other). Oh, and he is very excited about having a "sports" teacher (PE teacher) and can't wait until the school's fall carnival thing.

Monday is his first "real" day. I hope I get as much detail in the coming days as I got on Thursday.