Well, all of that to say, today, I am celebrating sibling harmony. Emily was my really big mama’s helper. I look back and wonder how in the world I would have done even half of what I’ve done without her here to help. But now, she’s gone. Hannah had not shown the least inclination to be half the helper Emily was. Tom and I have resigned ourselves to give up “date night” for a while, unless it involves something that we can take Elena with us. Which, let’s be realistic. That’s not really a date night, is it? But, to my surprise, Hannah has risen to the occasion. Perhaps she showed nothing before because it simply was not expected of her. Emily was always here to do it, so Hannah didn’t have to. It’s been a miraculous change, really. Even the way she does dishes has suddenly improved. Hannah really shines as the oldest sibling in the house. It suits her.

Noah and Jonah continue to argue like crazy. Might just be the way of siblings close in age – and we’re talking really close in their case; one minute apart. My sister and I are 19 months apart. Due to birthday timing, that put us 2 years apart in school. But we fought at least as bad as Noah and Jonah do. I think girls are just worse about that. We get so catty. But that’s a whole different post. My point is, we were close in age, and we fought. A lot. Violently, sometimes. So, I’m not sure there is much to be done about my boys. They’ll grow out of it. Sis and I did. We are very good friends, now.

Olivia gets along with everyone. She’s easy. Always has been. Ian runs hot and cold. But one place, he is always kind and loving is to his baby sister. He adores Elena. He loves to play with her, love on her, help her. On the first day of school for the big kids, Ian had that meet the teacher thing. It was at 9:30. I hung around with Olivia to go into her class with her, per her request, until about 8:45. Seemed silly to go home for 10 min., only to pack up and come back for Ian’s meeting. So we ran through a drive-thru and grabbed some breakfast and went back to the school to eat and play on the play ground while we waited out our time. Elena wanted some bites of Ian’s cinnamon roll. He was more than happy to oblige her. Taking great care in cutting bites small enough for her to eat and gently feeding her. It was so dang cute!! So cute, in fact, that I had to snap a few pictures.

I hope to catch the kids in more examples of sibling harmony and I want to proclaim it loudly so they will develop pride in making good choices, like being kind and loving to each other. But, rather than having bumper stickers made, I’ll just post about it here. Then you’ll have a choice in whether or not you want to listen to my bragging.

Waiting for the bus. No where in sight.

Ah! Here is comes! So exciting!

Up he goes. He just looks so tiny, climbing up those big stairs. The big three follow him on. I called a reminder to them to be sure and sit with Ian.

The doors closed.

Take a big breath. He will be ok.

I walked down a ways to try and see him through the window and be sure someone was sitting with him. The windows were tinted. I couldn’t really see through them well. But then I heard a little knock. I went back up toward the front. There he was, sitting with Olivia. Both of them were waving. He could barely see out the window. He’s just so tiny. I felt the sting of the tears in my eyes, that I did not shed yesterday, on his first day. Seeing him in a room filled with a bunch of kids his same size was just not a problem for me. Seeing him dwarfed by the size of that bus was something else entirely.

But I know he will be fine. He has Noah, Jonah, and Olivia to take care of him. And I’ll meet them down at the bus stop this afternoon to greet him coming off the bus. With my camera.

Ian has been looking forward to kindergarten for 2 years. I’ve been telling him for two years that he gets to go to school when he’s 5. Thankfully, school starts shortly after his birthday. I could have spent the last 8 months trying to explain to him why he wasn’t going yet, even though he met the requirement of turning 5. But as it works out, we bought school supplies even before his birthday, so he was assured that he would be going when every one else started.

When we met his teacher on Monday, she gave him two home work assignments. One included a project to show he could count. He was to glue items of the appropriate amount into each of 10 squares, containing the numbers 1-10. Olivia helped him with it. They have fun. I would have helped. But I was pushed aside by those far more capable. We had a tiny crisis this morning involving a couple of items coming off and being reglued, and then another item falling off on the way to school. We tucked that bead safely into his homework folder. I’m sure it was fine.

Because Ian was so eager to go (6:15? Really??), we were the very first to arrive on the kindergarten side. There were already several 1st graders lined up. Well, the early bird and all that… he got to have the honor of being the “Line Leader” to go inside. Taking the lead on the first day. That’s my boy! We stood in line about 10 min. I was instructed to start the timer on my phone. He likes things like that. I set it for 5 min. It went off and they didn’t open the doors yet, so I set it for another 5 as instructed by the “Line Leader.” Thankfully, we were led in before it went off again.

After a “dome cinco” at the door, we headed in and put his folder away as instructed on Monday. The kids then all piled up their back packs on one table so supplies could be taken care of. No further instructions were received, so I had Ian hunt down his name on a desk. Success was found! In fact, he’s sitting in almost the exact same spot in his room that Olivia occupies in her own room. Finally, instructions came and naturally, we did the wrong thing. The correct thing was to go to the reading rug and select a book to look through. I thought Ian picked an apropos title, don’t you? But before he did that, he had to check out the class pet – an albino corn snake. Cool. I like snakes.

After taking a few pictures of him looking at his book, he simply said, “Bye, Mom.” Wow. Dismissed. Um, can I at least have a hug? He complied and gave me a big hug. I told him I love him and to have a good day. Whatever, Mom. He had books to look at and new friends to make. I just say, I was quite surprised. When I drop him off on Sundays for Sunday School, he often doesn’t want to go into the class and I have to come in with him, get him started playing with something and then leave, but he never tells me I can leave. I always tell him I’m leaving and he often looks unsure. The class room teachers are awesome so I know it’s not that. He was just so excited to go to kindergarten that I think his desire to be there over whelmed any uncertainty he may have had.

To my credit, I did not cry. I was not emotional. Well, not overly so. I’m very proud of him and was very happy to see him acclimating so well. I begin to think that all my stress and worry over the summer about whether or not he should go was a big, giant waste of time. I can’t wait to see him in an hour and hear all about his first day.

A parting shot of all the moms who got to hang around longer after I was sent away. I’m so happy my guy is so confident and sure of himself that I could leave so easily.

In the first day outfit. I thought jeans was crazy, but turned out to be a cool day, so it all works out.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love Chuck Taylor’s. Hannah chose these for her PE shoes, so I had to grab a shot. Just love them.

The next three, however, were captive to my camera. Muhahaha. We spent a few minutes taking pictures, and then headed off to school.

Now, Noah and Jonah are far too old, you see, for Mom to come to class with them. So, I focused on Olivia, since she still wanted me to come with her. We were there way too early, of course. That’s what you do on the first day, right? Go early? Because you’re SO excited. Well, so we stood in the 2nd grade line for a while. Here are some shots I took. Including one of my favorite back pack, made from Capri Sun and Kool Aide juice pouches. So very cool! Also, the best hair ever on a second grade boy. Just love it!

Finally, it was time to go inside!! Yay! Miss Hatchett is the best 2nd grade teacher ever. OK. Well, I can’t really say that because I haven’t met every single 2nd grade teacher. But I can certainly say she’s my favorite. She greeted each student at the door, and as soon as Olivia told her her name, she said, “You’re Noah’s sister, aren’t you!” It’s so nice that she remembered Noah.

Next on the agenda for the day, was Ian’s “Meet the Teacher” conference. As I said previously, this was Olivia’s kindergarten teacher and we really like her. I’m really looking forward to Ian’s year with her.

After we were done with this, I decided to grab a couple of shots from the doors of the big three. They’d been in class for about an hour at this point. Olivia was taking stuff out of her bag and getting supplies put away. Noah and Jonah were doing a “get to know each other” activity. They were both facing away from the door. Probably a good thing. I’d just hate to embarrass them (um… did you catch that sarcasm all the way across the web?). Noah is more obvious, but Jonah, you can just see his head, so I darkened the rest of the shot to help show which head is his. I’d like to point out that he is surrounded by girls. A sign of things to come, perhaps??

Lots of pictures, as promised. They all reported having great days at school. Today is actually their third and they were just as eager to go today as they were the first day. So far, all of the kids have loved school in elementary school. It’s a testament to good teachers that have given my kids a love of learning. Oh, and Hannah has informed me that not turning in work will not be an issue this year. Apparently the school has adopted a zero tolerance policy for zeros. If they are missing something, they will be made to miss recess and do any make up work that has not been turned in yet. They will receive a much lower grade, but even a 20% is better than a zero. So, crossing fingers for a much better set of grades from Hannah this year.