TWO First Days of School

A few weeks ago, Will joined Miss Winings' K4 class, beginning his last year of preschool.  I'm a little melancholy about him starting kindergarten in a year, but Will is eagerly looking forward to it.  He switched to a different class over the summer, and most of his new classmates were older than him and started kindergarten this fall, which made him feel a little bit left behind.  I didn't realize it until his nighttime prayers started sounding like this:

"Dear God,

Thank you for making me have fun today, and make me five soon, and make me go to kindergarten. 

A-men."

He loves Miss Winings, though, and is happy to be back with his friends from last year.  We decided to put him in school full-time this year, because we thought it would be good kindergarten prep, and also because I think he had a harder time keeping up with his classmates (curriculum- and behavior-wise) going only 2-3 days/week.  He finishes the curriculum part of the day around noon, and I usually pick him up after naptime.  He is doing fantastic with his letter recognition, is learning phonics, and has memorized a few Bible verses.  His recitation of his verses is both sweet and hilarious (he's very serious)--I need to video him  doing it, and will post them when I do.

In other big news, Will has a little buddy joining him at school this year:

We decided to go ahead and start Anna in school, also (about 1 year earlier than we'd planned).  We've had a rough few months with busy work schedules, John's chemotherapy, and other things, so when the preschool director told me she had an opening in the toddler class (there is a lengthy waitlist), we jumped on it.  Anna still stays at home with me Monday thru Wednesday, then goes to school for a half a day when I'm working and our nanny picks both kids up after their naps and watches them.  The added flexibility has come with a price, though--she's been sick 3 times in 3 weeks!  Oh well, she's been extremely healthy up until now, so I knew the URI's were coming.

These are pics of Will's first day of school:

(Yep, Anna has an eye wound.  She fought with the play table and a Mickey toy and came out wounded.  She's good as new now, no scars!)

Anna didn't actually go to school that day, so I took another round of pictures on her first day of school:

She thinks she is such a big girl.  I place both their lunchboxes on the counter in the morning, and when I tell them it is time to go both kids run for the kitchen, grab their lunchboxes, and head to the door.  

Anna adjusted quite easily to her class and teacher, although she is having some trouble napping.  She is still a 2 nap/day baby at home, so doing only one nap at school results in a cranky girl in the evenings.  Also, she apparently is quite the little eater when at school.  I packed her a sandwich, fruit cup, and some goldfish for lunch on her first day, and her teacher sent a note home saying "Anna eats very well.  I think she would eat more if more were provided."  She actually ate more than Will did--maybe it was nerves? :-)

PS...Want to see how much Will has grown?  Here's a post about his previous first days of school.