Nicholas' first day of school was August 29th. He was incredibly excited and happy to start school, and he couldn't stop smiling for several days in advance whenever I would ask him about school. We had a school "practice" run two days before we he had an opportunity to practice getting on the bus, putting on his seat belt, finding his classroom, and we all met his teacher.
On the night before his first day of school, Nicholas laid out a "clothes man" on the floor and truly couldn't stop smiling as he went to bed. Well, several hours later (at 2 am), Nicholas was in our room half-dressed for school. He must have been having school dreams, because when I asked him what he was doing, he told me that I had told him to get up and get dressed. Unfortunately, he was so excited for school, that he couldn't fall asleep until 6:00, and he had to wake up at 6:30 to start getting ready for school and the bus.
We consider this a good omen in our family. I think there were a total of 7 deer that crossed in front of us.
Nicholas - very excited!
... he couldn't stop smiling
Doug, Lily, Donovan, and Nicholas. Nicholas catches the bus at the intersection of McDonald and Grasse Roads. Because of the hill on our road, I think it takes a bit under 2 minutes to get to the bus stop, and quite a bit longer to get back up to our house.
Lily, Nicholas, and Donovan - waiting for the bus.
Still so excited... : )
He's trying to be serious, but you can tell the corners of his mouth are smiling.
The first week of riding the morning bus was not fun for Nicholas. He'd take the first seat he find (which was reserved) and then the bus driver would ask him to find another seat. So, we had to watch him walk all the way to the back of the bus, turn around and come half-way up before someone would move over and let him into their seat. Our morning bus is very crowded, and even though we're less than a mile to the school, it takes about 1/2 hour for Nicholas to get to school on the bus (they drop off the high-schoolers, pick up some more kids, drop off the middle schoolers, and then go to the elementary school).
It was sad to watch the bus drive away with Nicholas - but fortunately, he's back to the bus stop by 11:15am. I love that he only has half-days of school!!!
It has been nice to spend more individual time with Lily and Donovan, but it is clear that they miss him while he's at school. Whenever Lily sees his picture, she yells out Nicky - and Donovan often saves really fun activities for when Nicholas returns.
And, he's back... The afternoon bus only has kindergarten students on it. There are about 10 of them, and the bus driver is REALLY nice. I rode the bus as a parent volunteer on the first day for the full route. The bus driver dropped me back at the school after he had finished his route, which gave me a lot of time to talk to him. : ) Nicholas did a great job on the bus, and he clearly didn't need any help from me - and I was very good about letting him do it all by himself.
When Nicholas is gone, we now sometimes do fun things like play with trains, read books, do artwork and - as always - clean the house.
Nicholas continues to love school. His favorite activities vary by the day. Today it was going to the library and picking out his own books. On Tuesday, it was going to music class. He also really likes his teacher and has made a friend, Gavin (who unfortunately is moving to Keene, NH in a month).
Donovan has also started up his speech class again, and is doing a fantastic job. He's really working on his enunciation - and speaks more clearly every day! His teacher loves him! : )
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