A Semi-Seamless Start

This week, Vincent started his school preparatory year of Kindergarten, and Kilian started the second grade.

Yesterday was Kilian's first day of school in the new school year. He had a list of supplies that took an entire page, and I spent the better part of a day organizing, labeling, and sorting them all for the big day. And then I got everyone out of bed on time, breakfasted, groomed, and dressed in cute outfits. Cut apple slices and packed freshly baked chocolate ricotta muffins. And then I rounded up the three bags - the backpack, the gym bag, and the cloth bag of school supply overflow (and house shoes!), and herded the kids out to the car.


I walked Kilian up to his room - no seven year old could manage that load of school stuff alone - and met his teacher in the coat room. Kilian's friend Nils sought him out right away, and they went to the teacher together to ask if they could sit at the same table. I'm really glad about this, because Nils is a lot like Kilian in that he is one of the quieter kids, and actually likes doing school work.

I was pretty pleased with myself for getting Kilian off to second grade with all the required goods and in plenty of time, but when I went back to the car where Vincent was patiently waiting, I realized that we'd left his Kindergarten backpack at home. It only dawned on me later that I'd neglected to take an out-the-door picture on Kilian's first day of school. I did take one of Vincent on his first day of Kindergarten.

Kilian is happy to be back in school; he didn't even gripe that much about the homework on the first day. With Vincent, things aren't quite as straightforward. He has told me every day this week that he hates Kindergarten and wants to stay home, but he also goes into the room without drama when I drop him off in the morning, and I have caught him playing happily out in the garden when I picked him up on Monday and Tuesday. So I'm not taking the Kindergarten-hating too seriously. And the kids there like him. When I left him today, he was surrounded by girls! I'm sure he will have pretended to hate it.

Kilian also had his first guitar lesson yesterday, where he learned to pick a single string. He was delighted. His teacher may well be the most Bavarian lady I've ever met. I'm glad Kilian can understand her.

And so begins another year of Kindergarten and school... I'm excited for the boys, and looking forward to sharing it with them.