Oliver is Off to Kindergarten

It's a new era for our family.  As of today, we officially have a school-age child.  Sending any child off to kindergarten is a big deal, but being that we were a family with four non-school-age children, it's kind of a relief to send one child off to school.  I know I'm very much in the minority when I answer with an honest no to everyone who's asked me if I'm sad about Oliver starting kindergarten.  With his fall birthday making him older for his grade, he's more than ready for something more challenging. 

We had applied to both our neighborhood school and the Twin Cities German Immersion School (TCGIS) and were very lucky to get spots in both schools.  The day after we got home from China, we received the call from TCGIS that Oliver has gotten a spot in the lottery, and even though the school was our top choice and I should have been jumping with joy, the best I could do in my jet-lagged state was politely thank them for the call. I had no idea how lucky we had really been.  A friend with an older child at TCGIS informed me that 110 children were wait-listed and that this might be the first time in the school's history that some children never make it off the waitlist.

So off to German school Oliver was headed.  Our first morning was pretty hectic as we prepared for seven of us to get out the door in the morning.  Chris and I arranged to take the morning off of work so we could take Oliver to school, and of course Celina and the rest of the kids had to come too.

Our au pair made Oliver's first day of German school special by making him a Schultuete, which all German children receive on their first day of school.  (They receive theirs in first grade since kindergarten is part of preschool in Germany and first grade is considered the start of official schooling.) The cones are filled with school supplies and lots of chocolates and candies.  As a special treat, Oliver's Schultuete included some German chocolate Celina had brought from home for this purpose. 

Once we got to school, we found our way to the wing of the building with the kindergarten and first grade classrooms.  It was already hot and humid, even so early in the morning, and it was even more stifling in a hallway packed with anxious parents and anxious children.  We found Oliver's locker and then walked him into his classroom to meet his new teacher. 

I was thrilled when I found out that Oliver would be in Frau Suter's class because his teacher and I actually go way back.  We met when we were counselors at the Concordia Language Villages, when I knew her as Uschi, her German camp name, and we not only taught together, but were even co-counselors in the same cabin. I really admired her for how well she spoke German and her ability to connect with our campers.  We lost touch over the years and I had no idea she became a teacher, let alone at TCGIS.  The four summers I taught at Waldsee seem like a lifetime ago since I was single and childless then, so it's both surreal and awesome to have Uschi, I mean, Frau Suter, end up being my child's kindergarten teacher. 

We knew Oliver was nervous, but he held it together until it was time for us to leave and then the tears started.  My friend's daughter, who is in first grade, tried comforting him by telling him that she was sad last year too when her parents had to leave, "but the rest of the day was pretty awesome."  With that ringing endorsement of kindergarten, I decided it was a good time to give my final kisses goodbye and assure Oliver that he would be okay.  As much as I had not been sad about Oliver starting kindergarten, I was suddenly on the verge of tears, especially has my crying boy thrust both palms in my face to receive two "kissing hands".  We had read The Kissing Hand the night before about a little racoon whose mom kisses one of his hands so he could take her love with him when he went to school.  Oliver had informed me last night that he was going to ask me to kiss both hands so he wouldn't have to worry about forgetting which hand contained my kiss. 

When Oliver hopped off the bus this afternoon, I was relieved that he was in good spirits.  As one can expect from a five-year-old, we didn't get a whole lot out of him about what he thought of his first day.  Everyone was nice, but he couldn't remember anyone's names.  They sang a "hello" song, but he couldn't remember the words.  He learned the German word Tschuess, which means goodbye.  He kind of liked lunch, and rattled off everything that came in the school's hot lunch today, but then later begged me for a cool lunchbox so he could pack his own lunch.  The drama teacher walked them out to the bus and the older kids aren't as good at listening as the younger kids because his teacher asked them to move out of the way in the hallway and she had to ask them three times.  Despite the vague report from his day, I think it overall went well.