Kindergarten

First day of school - drop off went well, according to Mr. Burli. When I picked  JT up he commented, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. ... It was fun! ...I only cried a little at lunch because I missed my dad." (Normally he calls his 'dad' papa, so this was a funny statement.)

JT with his Schultuete - a German traditional cone of 'sweets' (actually one toy and art supplies, pencils, etc.) to help sweeten the first day of school. JT keeps calling it his 'schul-tatty.'

Second day of school - my turn to drop him off - he cried and refused to let me leave. The teacher had to call in assistance. I was getting angry and somewhat embarrassed, since all the other parents were gone and the other kids were sitting nicely at their tables playing with their play-dough. I have to admit, I wasn't feeling real sympathetic to him since he goes to such a nice school and I knew he would have fun at the 2 recesses and singing and everything. And I was nearly ready to cajole him into cooperating by offering tv time after school or taking away lego playtime... not my finest parenting hour. I was too worried about what the teacher was thinking of *me* (what a bad parent who has made their child so clingy), which is silly, and I was also worried about being late to teach my own class. I think I have not done things to encourage clinginess, but instead have stressed independence (often following montessori methods to help do this) throughout his early years. He simply has a deep attachment to me and feels anxious in this setting when I drop him off.
Third day of school: I had to drag him out of our back bedroom to the car. Actually, I gave him a piggyback ride, and I am not sure that he wasa 100% sure that he didn't want to go, but it felt more like he was testing the waters - if I tell them I want to stay home, maybe they will let me...
Fourth day of school: My turn to drop off again. The assistant who helped calm him down on Tuesday was not there, so I stayed a few extra minutes on the rug with the kids and watched JT warm up and then told him firmly that I had to go. I had also allowed him to put one rock monster (lego toy) in his backpack and if he was feeling nervous or missed me, he could think about the rock monster in his bag and remember to be strong and brave. He was crying a little still, but then again, there was another child crying silently on the rug next to him. Those poor boys. NONE of the girls were crying on the mornings I dropped him off. There is something to be said to this gender-pattern of attachment to the mothers.
Fifth day: Just got the call that he went into the class himself (he is getting used to the routine of hanging the backpack up outside the classroom on a hook and turning in his planner), sat down and started playing, then ran back to Mr. Buri, told him "Good-bye. You can leave now or stay if you want." And that was it. Let's see how it goes for me on Tuesday.

Other interesting things from school: he claimed he got a time-out during quiet time the other day because his friend was pretend snoring and he laughed. He also came home singing, chug-a-chug-a poo-poo, which he and his friend (the same one, the one I didn't want to be in the same class as him and is) thought was really funny. Yes, little boys' humor. He also had to go to the bathroom both Wednesday and Thursday morndings right after arriving. So Wednesday Mr. Burli took him to the restroom as the kids were lining up and it took a while - causing Julian to be 'late' and thus he got a tardy slip from the office. There went perfect attendance!
On my morning, I made sure he went into the classroom first and then asked to use the restroom. It turns out there is even one in the classroom, so now we know.

JT and his friend checking out the school Friday before school began. JT already wanted to wear his uniform! So far the uniform is wonderful - no worries/arguments about what to wear in the morning.

In case you were wondering, too, about the German Immersion Program: the kids in his class (Frau H.) are doing German this week - the teacher speaks to them in German but switches to English once in a while to make sure everyone understands. She also uses some sign language. Next week JT will go into Mr. H.'s class and everything will be in English, except for the one hour each day where they switch back to the other class to do a little reinforcement in the other language.