Micah Thrived and Mommy Survived!

Our first week of kindergarten came and gone and here's a snapshot of the week:



First day at the Bus Pick up Afterschool:
Mommy:  "Micah, how was it?"
Micah: "AWESOME."
[Wow, he never used the word awesome before.  Gosh, he LOOKS older too.]
Mommy: Um, did you see Mommy cry this morning when the bus left?
 Micah: No.  You were turned around, but I knew you did.

Day Two:
 Micah: Mommy, they don't talk about Jesus in Kindergarten, do they?
Mommy:[hesitation] No baby, they don't.
 Micah: ...Yeah, I didn't think so.
Mommy thinking: I can't believe he noticed that right away!  I did something right?@!

 

Day Three:
Micah: (Excitedly)  Guess what mommy?  
Mommy: What??
Micah:  I got my first library book!  [Serious face]  We have to return it next Thursday.
Mommy:  [Equally serious tone]  Okay.

Micah's Teacher

Day Four:
Mommy:  Oh no Micah, is that the bus??  It's early.  We missed the bus.
[A look of shock, and then horror, and then panic.  Breaking out into tears!]
Mommy! Oh no!  What do we do?
Mommy: Well, Micah, I'll just take you to school.
[(Still a mess.  Massive bucket of alligator tears]  Ooohkkaayy...but I LOVE the bus!

Day Five:
Mommy: What's your favorite part of Kindergarten?
Micah:  Recess.
Mommy:  Hey, me too.

First time seeing the gymnasium.  Response:  "Wow."

Micah absolutely LOVES Kindergarten.  He was made for this.  In fact, missing a day would result in an Oscar-winning performance of Child Traumatized.  Missing the bus this week was a good teachable moment for him.  After he immediately went HYSTERICAL, I was able to give him a talk about handling tough situations.  I asked him, "What is still good with this situation?"  His first response was, "Well, you can still take me."  That's right!  I made him repeat it three times that it's not a big deal.   Then, I said, "Well, what else did we learn?"  Without any prompting, he said, "We could leave earlier tomorrow."

Joey and Micah in line - first day of school. 

Yes!  That's right.  We learned something and if you do the same thing, you will produce the same results.  So, let's do something different tomorrow.  What a great opportunity to teach him a positive approach to responding to negative situations.  It's official:  We're learning something at school!