First day of school!

Gabriel bravely marched into Kindergarten this morning.  We had an open house Saturday to meet the teacher, who was not the teacher we were expecting.  They hired a teacher one week before school started, we think because the teacher from last year didn't want to deal with 22 Kindergarteners.  This greatly upset me because I was worried it would upset Gabriel.  He doesn't accept change very well.  But, "Mrs. B" seems like she has her stuff together and has been teaching this age for a LONG time.  Some of her best quotes from open house:

"I love my kids, but it's tough love".

"I don't want parents in my classroom.  You can peek in the window over the bushes if you're that concerned about what's happening in here, but kids don't act the same when their parents are in the room"

"My goal is to make them self-sufficient and independent by the end of the year".

Well, my fears melted away with every word the woman said.  And since my kid picks up on my approval or disapproval with some sort of internal radar, he seemed excited to get started this morning.  I walked him in and dropped him off with two other kids melting down and one little girl totally ok.  The rest of them hadn't shown up yet.  He didn't seem upset at all, and a miraculous thing happened.  I didn't shed a tear.  Not one.  Didn't even well up.

The only thing I was sad about was Joel.  He and Gabriel have been inseparable this summer, and now Baba is gone all day.  I think he'll be ok once his preschool starts back after Labor Day, but until then I'm trying to play with him and fill the void that his brother has left.

Of course, after all the praising I gave Gabriel when I picked him up, he decided to COMPLETELY melt down about going back tomorrow while I was putting him to bed.  Seemed he had thought about things and decided he didn't want to be gone away from home that long each day.  But I think it had more to do with the excitement of starting school coupled with a late afternoon VERY HOT swim lesson that wore him out.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.