First Day, Season Four

Yesterday, September 7, 2010 was Kiernan's first day of First Grade! Very, very exciting.

We had to get up a little earlier than usual because the school day starts a half hour earlier than it did in Kindergarten. Also, as it was his first day he got to choose a special breakfast: waffles. As I am the waffle expert in the house this meant I had to get up when everybody else in the house got up; usually I can sneak in some extra snoozing since I don't require makeup or playing with Bionicles in the morning.

After waffles we headed outside for the traditional first day of school photoshoot.


Kiernan is not always cooperative when it comes to having pictures taken. Which is why a large number of the pictures I take of him tend to be candid and casual shots, not posed pictures. I prefer catching moments like that anyway, instead of asking for a pose. But even then, if he catches me snapping a picture of him while he's doing something he may hide his face or turn away from me because he just doesn't feel like having a picture taken. Of course it varies and there's plenty of times when he's a total ham and wants us to capture a moment. It just seems like a lot of times we really want a picture he doesn't want to stand still for it.

No problem this morning. The coolest thing of all, though, was when we were heading outside to take the traditional first day shot (like last year's, or the one before that) and he said, "We can take it with Guinea Pig, right?" Wendy and I looked at each other with this beautiful mixed feeling. He's still our cute little boy who will not go to sleep without his GP (or, rather, his coterie of guinea pigs now: Guinea Pig, Tiny Pig--pictured, left--Linny Pig, and Shiver Pig), but you cannot help but wonder as a parent how long this is going to last. Every first day picture has had Guinea Pig in it. How long before he rolls his eyes at the thought of that? How long will we be able to get away with the first day picture at all?

Meh. I don't want to think about that right now. Yuck.

So off to school we went, all nervous and excited. We got there early, and good thing too since we had to park a good ways away. It seemed like every family brought at least five cars. The other reason we wanted to arrive early was the fact that the school this year has a different layout. Kiernan's school now includes middle school kids, and because the middle school and elementary schools are using the same site, new bungalows had to be brought in and new slabs laid over the summer. Just a month ago Kiernan's teacher-to-be still didn't know where her classroom was going to be. So we approached the school grounds wondering what it all would look like.

The First Graders are all in four class bungalows, connected in twos, so that Kiernan's class has a doorway connected it to another First Grade class. The four bungalows are pretty snug together, so that it seems like the First Grade is set apart, sort of its own little community in much the same way Kindergarten was set apart last year. I'm not sure if this impression will hold as we spend more time at the school, but that's my first impression. I'm happy with this, because I've been a little nervous about the introduction of middle school kids to the campus. The administrators assured us last year that the two populations would be separate, but I was having my doubts about this as I saw the construction progress over the summer. The way the bungalows are set apart reassures me, but again we'll have to see how it plays out.

It was cool to see Kiernan dash into his classroom and check it out. See where his desk is going to be and find out who was going to be in his class this year. He's most excited that his friend Oliver is in his class (that's Oliver with him right over there-->) , and also his friends Sylas and James. He knew those three going in, but found out a couple of others when he got into his classroom for the first time. The classroom looked great. For as little time as they had to set up for the first day of school, the teachers did a fantastic job turning generic modular classrooms into homey little spaces.

In short order the warning bell sounded and we all went outside for lineup. The kids then marched back into their classrooms without us. And that was that. We parents watched the doors close, then looked at each other. Happy. Proud. A little lost. A little shell-shocked. For me it was bittersweet, as these moments usually are. Like any parent I now understand all the jokes about summer finally being over. The last couple weeks were particularly taxing and I began to wonder if school would ever get here. At this moment, however, it suddenly seemed that summer had been far too short.

He marched into his classroom without a tear, with nary a complaint or concern. He's ready for school. My boy is a bona fide First Grader. How about that?