The Clayton Column: Last Days Before Kindergarten

Jack started kindergarten on August 12. I wanted him to have some time off before school started, so we made his last day of preschool Friday, July 31. He was very excited about his last day, but was a little nervous too. Jack made thank you cards for his teachers, which I thought turned out pretty cute.

I got the sweetest email from his teacher Ms Amy on his last day (Ms Kristin was on her honeymoon):

Annie,

Oh my goodness! I am speechless right now because of your generosity! I absolutely love the card from Jack and it will have a special place in my teaching scrapbook forever.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have enjoyed having Jack in our classroom. He is a kind, thoughtful and bright child that I know will have an amazing future, and the wonderful boy that he is a reflection of the amazing parents he has!!

I will especially miss Jack’s sports stories in the morning!

Thanks for sharing Jack with Kristin and I this year. We will miss him more than you know.

When I picked him up that last day, I got a little choked up (of course) and he laughed at me. We had all his extra clothes and things from his cubby to bring home and Jack was also apparently getting a little emotional himself because he wanted to take every little thing home. For example, he had a clipboard where he wrote his daily sheet each morning and he asked Ms Amy if he could take it with him. She couldn't let him take that, so they compromised on the pen that was taped to it with string (a regular Bic pen with no cap - oh so special). We also left with the name tag from his cubby and the little picture of his face that he used to denote which center he would go to. That boy....

For the week and half he had off of school, I took a few days off and he spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Lang. Lots of fun crammed into a quick 7 days!

The first day off we had lots of errands to run. We went school supply shopping, got him a haircut, etc. I also had to drag him to my allergists' office to get my shots and to my monthly ultrasound. Before that last stop I could tell he was getting antsy, so I took him to a nearby high school and timed him running around the track.

He loved it and it worked! He took a little catnap on the way to the appointment and was on his best behavior when we got there.

The Friday before school started, we had kindergarten orientation. I was a total emotional wreck! I tried my best to hold it in, but I was a mess. It didn't help that when we got there, Jack and I went into our respective bathrooms, and when I was washing my hands, he came into the girls' room crying because he had gotten stuck in the bathroom stall. Not a great start! His crying made it ~~harder~~ impossible for me to hold my tears in. He did great at orientation after the rough start. Our neighbor Jack is in his class, so that was a huge help too! When we left orientation, he said kindergarten is going to be awesome! We planned a little play date at the park after orientation, and it ended up being a great day (after I embarrassed myself crying at school - ha!).

The Kindergartners! Millie, Jack, Jack, Reghan and Nathan

Jack and Jack

Monday before school started, Jack and I had a special 1 on 1 day at the Science Center, which we hadn't visited before.

We saw a show at the Planetarium and Jack loved that you could lay on mats on the floor...

We had a great day together, and we will definitely be going back to the Science Center!

The day before school started was a Tuesday, so Grandma and Grandpa Lang and I took the boys to the zoo. Another super fun day!