JD's 1st Day of "Zero Grade"

JD had his first day of what he calls "Zero Grade" today (known to the rest of the world as Kindergarten). I was a typical mom. . .nervous and excited and happy and scared and sad. . . .a whole ball of mixed emotions. But we dropped him off at 7:30 and picked him up at 3:00, and it all went off without a hitch.

JD was excited about his first day. He certainly didn't have all the emotions I was experiencing, which I'm very happy about. It probably helps that he's been going to Mothers Day Out now for 3 years, and he goes to a different school in the Summer than he does the rest of the year. So he's used to changing schools, teachers, enviornments, etc.

So he grabbed his baseball backpack, the Toy Story 3 lunch box and thermos that Aunt Kelli and Uncle Jason gave him, posed for a quick picture and got in the car, ready for his first big day. After all this talk, I guess he wanted to see what it was all about.

Bud and I walked him to his new class (Room 304 with Ms. Wilson), and hung out with him while he got acquainted. We even got to snap a few pictures with our little Kindergartener. We need to sieze these moments because I know they don't last forever. Much like Ashton did this year. He's going into the 5th grade (I KNOW! 5th GRADE!!!) and told Kelli that he didn't need her to take him to school, he wanted to ride the bus. Ugh! Like a knife through the heart!

We finally left the room when the teacher called all the kids together to get the day started. I guess that's what she needed to do to make all the hovering parents get on their way. We did a good job holding it together while we were in his room, but once we walked out, we both lost a little of the control we'd worked so hard to maintain. Then, just as we were starting to collect ourselves, Ryan looks at me and says "I really miss JD." Great. Thanks Ryan for kicking it over into 3rd gear.

Ryan & I spent the day together. We ran errands, visited Granny at her work, visited Papa and Nana at home, ate lunch with Daddy, went to get a birthday gift for one of our friends, then headed back to school to pick up JD. When JD and Ryan saw each other, they gave each other a big hug, then JD laid out his classwork and proceeded to teach it all to Ryan....right there in the middle of the sidewalk. It was adorable.

When I asked JD how his first day was, he quickly responded "IT WAS AWESOME!"

Well there you have it. . . the 1st day of school was a success! Hopefully we have at least 16 more of those to experience with JD.