well, if you know gani, his expressions in these pictures say it all. i won't have to do much narrating. the big day has arrived, and isagani started kindergarten at birney elementary. we've been prepping him for this big day, since we know he's got a tough time with transitions. i even took 2.5 weeks off work for this (and it's a GOOD thing i did, which i'll refer to later on). it was a huge plus to know that chamina, joie, camryn, mahalaya, koa and so many other friends started kindergarten too (congratulations, friends!!). it gave him the extra boost of encouragement and confidence. so last night, in preparation, perci and i took him to borders to read some books, and made sure the last one we read was "the kissing hand", starring chester the raccoon. i'm too cheap, so i didn't buy it, but man did that book almost make me cry right there in the middle of borders!
the first thing isagani said as he woke up this morning was, " i don't want to go to kindergarten", all half asleep. so i got him dressed in his uniform (boo. i don't like uniforms, but he was fine with it) and took him outside to start taking pictures. he started off very proud and smiling. then, as i started to ask him questions about how he felt starting his first day...
the mood began to change...
slowly becoming more worried about what the day held...
we arrived waaaay to early for school, so we took a little tour of his new school. i tried to make friends with another mom in passing, but gani ignored her and her son completely and left me half a block behind, trying to get as far from people in uniforms as possible.
we found our way with what seemed like 100 families to the kindergarten playground. i remembered his teacher, mrs. moss' room from when we took a school tour last year. hers was full of art, visuals and overall colorful and creative. so in looking into his new room, the spark of excitement started.
just as i fell in love with his school, his teachers, the diversity of the school and his classmates and family... the principal calls me in to talk to me. damn! it turns out that for the first time in 8 years, kindergarten is over-enrolled. this means that the neighborhood children get priority, and us school of choice people have to either wait for kids to drop out or get placed at another school. WHAT?! so at any point, gani could get moved to another kindergarten that has room, which is FAR from ideal for us. perci and i are already trying to find ways to bribe the principal with free PE training or diversity training if he lets us stay. (half joking). i'm so glad i have several days off so we could figure this all out. let's hope he stays *fingers crossed*.
but overall, it was a great day for isagani. i took him to his favorite, mcdonalds, for an apple pie for being a big boy. i couldn't have wished for a more smooth 1st day of school. let's hope we don't have to do it again at another school.thumbs up to my big boy!
**UPDATE**
he's staying at birney! yay and thanks for all the support!! gani's going to love it there.
3 comments:
Super-cute!!! He's so much like Cham, it's eerie. I'm so glad he had a wonderful time in Kinder. BTW, I loaf "The Kissing Hand"! They read it in Cham's class too, except it was in Spanish. We have the book, so anytime you want to borrow it, you know who to call! Kisses to the Zu!
Thank God he gets to stay at a school that you guys love! How nerve wrecking that must have been--for all 3 of you to wait! I can't believe he's in kindergarden now yo?! It makes me a little nervous thinking about how fast time went by. What is the process like for kindergarden when you pick a school outside of your neighborhood? Btw, I LOVE the pictures of Gani going thru his first day--especially the kissing hand one! :)
so glad our big boy can stay at his school!! We are so proud of him and also would like to commend him on the AWESOME shoe choice for the first day of school. congratulations!!
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