My Almost Kindergartner and Confirmation

If there is anything in life that I have been smacked over the head with since the day Evan was born it is how hard parenting can be. The sleepless nights, the poop, the pee...LOTS of pee, the WORRY about EVERYTHING. Since Evan was born very early and had some catching up to do I was introduced to being a mommy with the kind of worry I would never wish upon any parent. The worry of survival. The worry of his health. Is he breathing? Is he aspirating when he is eating? What if he gets pneumonia? Is he eating enough? What if he gets sick? Is he getting enough oxygen? Is he wheezing..and on and on and on...

Now as he gets older the worry is still there it has just evolved into a new kind of worry. Am I teaching him enough? How are his motor skills? His writing? Problem Solving Skills? Table Manners? Social Skills? Why isn't he responding when people talk to him? Do I make him respond or will they understand? Oh and then the behaviors..the discipline? Am I using the right type of discipline strategy? Was I patient enough today? And on and on and on...

When Evan turned Five he changed and grew leaps and bounds. His health is better than it's ever been. He has been steroid (predisolone) free for exactly one year. It has been his first year without those terrible steroids. His first year without one single hospital visit. Socially and emotionally he continues to grow too. Sometimes I wonder if part of it is having all those steroids out of his body.

All that being said I struggled with whether or not to start him in Kindergarten last year. He met the age qualifications (5 in August) and academically he would have been just fine, it was the emotional and social side I was not sure about. He was still very clingy and would cry and death grip my leg in new situations and sometimes even the not so new situations. I would often get the sympathetic look followed by the ever so popular "He will grow out of it" phrase......Ahhhh would this day ever come? Well it is with a huge lump in my throat I can say

That Day Is Here!!!!

He is 100 percent ready for school, so VERY excited, and this mama is comforted by knowing without a doubt that waiting an extra year was exactly what he needed.

How do I know he is ready when school hasn't even started yet you ask. Well our school has a pre kindergarten class that is held one hour a week for six weeks the spring prior to their Kindergarten year. It is a chance for the kids to get to know their school, teacher, friends, and some of the things that will be expected of them as big kids.

I am proud to say that we are two weeks in and he LOVES it. He even LOVES that he has homework. Homework in Kindergarten? Not my favorite but I am trying to act just as excited as he is.

Evan waiting to line up for his entrance into the classroom.

Trying out the playground with brother was lots of fun!
Monkey Boy..

The kids all lined up..

I must say the kids were all well behaved and good listeners.
Evan had to find his name on the chart and take it to the table of his choice prior to doing their table time activity.

As we were walking through the parking lot after your first day of PreK you looked up at me and said "Mommy you are so going to miss me when I go to Kindergarten because I am gonna be gone five days a week. You are going to cry Mommy".

With a tear coming down this mama's cheek you quickly followed it up with

"Mom..Can I PLEASSSSSSEEEE ride the bus????"

Think you are ready for school?