Kindergarten - take #2

Poor R. He is our "middle child" and second son. And this week he finally started kindergarten. It seems that R. has been ready to go to elementary school for years! He has been playing on the school playground since he was in diapers and idling in that pick-up line with me for three years. So his entrance to formal schooling was, frankly, a little anti-climactic for all of us. And here is what I learned about kindergarten the second time around:

- Rather than walking your child to the classroom and hovering nervously at the door for the first three months, your second child tells you that they would rather have their older sibling walk them in than you. You find yourself begging them to let you walk them in so that the other parents don't report you to CPS.



- Rather than sending an assortment of healthy organic tidbits for the morning snack, the second child gets an "organic toaster pastry" (read: pop-tart) because that's what his brother is having.

- And instead of saving each and every art project and mini-book, son #2's artwork is carefully edited at the recycling bin. Frankly - we've seen it all before and we know to save room in the memory box for the Monet Garden Diorama and self portrait to come later in the year.


Here's how blase I am about R's big departure from the nest. I forgot to tell R that another parent would be bringing him home on his 6th day of school! When he didn't get the mid-morning message I sheepishly left on the teacher's voicemail he gently chastised me later ("Mom - can you tell me next time if someone else is picking me up?").

I cringe to think of how many more of his life experiences will be a "redo" of something his big brother has already done. But I look forward to seeing how he takes on elementary school in his own carefree and sociable way. Go forth little R...