It all started a few weeks ago. We received a letter in the mail from church, welcoming Jordan to the kindergarten ministry. It explained the process of his upcoming transition from the preschool to kindergarten, as far as church goes. As I read the word "kindergarten", I teared up.
Up until then I had assumed, incorrectly, that I would not get all emotional over Jordan going to kindergarten. Since we're home schooling, I just thought it wouldn't be a big deal. Not like it was with Shaun, when I dropped him off in his classroom, immediately burst into tears, and cried the rest of the day. I didn't cry simply because he was my baby going to school, but because I literally felt as if I were feeding him to lions or something. I honestly hadn't put much thought into the fact that Jordan was getting ready for school, until I read the letter.
Then it hit me. He's grown. My little baby is five years old. 5! I know, I know. He turned five back in January, over six months ago. I guess because I always knew he would be at home with me when he began school, his turning five wasn't as bittersweet as it was when Shaun turned five. I wasn't "losing" him to school- so everything should be fine! I didn't freak out when I registered him for kindergarten (he'll actually be doing an on-line program) or when he had his five year old check up. Reading the words in that letter suddenly made it official.
I've been getting little reminders ever since. Last Wednesday was Jordan's last day as a five year old "Leopard" at church. Here he is with his teachers, Mrs. Jananne and Ms. Tori.
He commented to me on the way to church that afternoon that he would miss his teachers, but that he was ready for KidPak Jr. (For those that don't know- Kidpak Jr is the kindergarten ministry. It's followed by Kidpak, which goes through grade 6.) He went to Kidpak Jr for the first time yesterday morning.
Here he is with his new teacher, Mrs Tara.
This photo was actually taken a few weeks ago. We were in the office after church and he cozied up with Mrs Tara. I had every intention of taking his picture yesterday morning, on his first day in Kidpak Jr. I wanted to take one of Shaun as well, on his first day in the 5th grade room. But we were running late and it just didn't work out. Sad, really. Our new co-op starts tomorrow. I'll try to get an official "first day of school" photo. I'll probably have to take it at the end of the day, as all three of us are not morning folks at all.
But back to yesterday.
Jordan moved up. He moved to a different hall. It occurred to me last week that Chris and I don't have any kids on the preschool side anymore. That if I didn't teach a four year old class, I wouldn't even have a reason to go down that hallway. Which led to watery eyes. Yesterday when I dropped him off in his new class, I didn't get a pager. I've lost pagers at church before, so I'm always paranoid about keeping up with them. Several times yesterday I caught myself frantically digging through my purse looking for my pager, only to remember that I didn't need one anymore. Sad!
Back to School Prayer Service was yesterday. I've always gone through the prayer line since we started home schooling. I figure I need all the prayer I can get. I was going to walk in the line with Shaun, but he didn't want me to. He said he'd rather go with his friends. Ouch! So I went through with Jordan's class. He looked so small standing in line with the other kindergarten kids. Really small, but also really big in his skinny jeans and Converse One Stars.
Can you even imagine the mess I'd be in if I had dropped him off at public school this morning? I shudder to think.
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