Day one and no drama

Well, Jamie's first day seemed to go well. When I picked him up, he was extremely calm. There was some question about materials to come home and I think he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to have and whether he had forgotten something. Interestingly, he got just ever-so slightly teary as he tried to sort this out, which was I think just some of the emotion of the day coming out. Turns out it was our fault, we were supposed to send him with a back-pack, so on the plus side he ended up with something to reprove us with.

Anyway, we have seen that the general rule is that the boys still us very little about school and this held true. You can well imagine I was beside myself waiting for details but not much came. But I asked how it was and he said firmly, if succinctly, "good." I asked if he had made friends and he said yes and named the boy who sits next to him. He likes his teacher he says and that's about what I got. Not worst fears realized by any stretch.

Drop off today went smoothly as well, there was no sense of not wanting to go back and, to his credit, he has not mentioned his old school once. I even got to hug him before he went in to the class.

And they're off...

The boys are at school as we speak. Jamie seemed to do just fine. He was a little nervous clearly but not overwhelmingly so. He has informed us that he wants to be James at school and Sarah, hoping against hope asked if she could kiss him when she dropped him off. You can guess the answer.

We stuck around for a parent info session after we dropped him off and found an excuse to walk by the classroom. As it happened, they were lining up in the hallway to use the bathroom. Jamie saw us but played it very cool as we walked past, watching us but otherwise giving nothing else away. As it happened, the door we were going to exit by was closed, so we had to walk back by. He was similarly reserved when we walked by, but we wondered if he was beginning to fear we were going to do that all day. Which of course we'd like to.

For his part Connor was not thrilled, but it was a more of a I-don't-feel-like-doing-this reaction than any anxiety. He did claim he didn't like school because his teacher gets mad at him. The love-fest that the two of them put on every time we see them tells a different story.

First impressions

We went with Jamie to look at his new school and talk to his teacher yesterday. Sarah and I are both anxious about this, more than I think would even be normal in such a case, because he was so settled at a previous school. We decided to walk, in part because we are so pleased we can walk, and on the way he asked again in a very good-natured way about why he wasn't going back to St. Catherine's. We went over it with him and he pretty much accepted what we said.

When we got to school, it was very crowded and chaotic, but aside from slipping his little hand it ours occasionally Jamie betrayed no discomfort. We got to his classroom and he immediately walked all around looking at everything. We met his teacher and he was a little shy but responsive. His biggest thrill was discovering that there was a package of school supplies waiting for him and that he would have a table space all his own that he would keep throughout the year. When we were walking away he said he liked the classroom. My heart leapt. Then when we got home he immediately wanted to look through the supplies, which he did with great attentiveness. So, so far so good.

More from the swimmer

Connor keeps asking to go to the pool this week. Unfortunately, it is now on late summer hours and so is only open on weekends. But it's clear his swimming success is on the little guy's mind. He announced to Sarah today that when he grows up he wanted to be a lifeguard. She encouraged him and, thinking it would further reinforce it, told him she had been a lifeguard too. He was not pleased, however. His face went pensive and then he announced he wanted to be a doctor...and a swimmer.

The swimmer

It is amazing with kids how some things seem to to happen over night. At the beginning of the summer Connor seemed ages away from swimming on his own. He was a good little soldier in swim lessons, but was still very apprehensive about being in the water and showed no signs of being able to keep afloat on his own, let alone get from one place to another. All summer he's been in a swim vest, which works great, but we did wonder if it was good to have him relying on that. Since we went to Nonni and Diddy's in June he has been very brave about jumping in the water by himself, which we took as a good sign. And then, just in the past three weeks, he has started wearing goggles and putting his face in the water while he paddles along. Then, the other day we went to the Y which doesn't allow swim vests. Well, little bunny just launched himself off the steps put his face in the water paddled around and swam back to the steps! Bunny can swim! He proceeded to swim back and forth between us about 100 times, all with a gigantic grin on his face.

He now seems to advancing every time he gets in the water. He looks like a little fish, twisting this way and that to look around under water and turning around and changing directions in a flash. He can really motor along surprisingly fast. Best of all, though, is the fact that he can now jump into the water by himself, come up, and swim to the side. This really augurs a new era of parental bliss: from the moment Jamie was born Sarah has has ongoing nightmares about drowning. They will not ever go away completely, and we will remain vigilant, but there's no denying the progress.

Update on camp

I was worried all day Monday after Jamie had been so anxious when we got to camp. Of course he got home and all was fine. Any nervousness was a distant memory.

The big topic of conversation was a boy named Andre, who Jamie said was "cool." Curious about what makes a 6-year-old cool to a 6-year old, Sarah asked why this was so. Jamie said it was because he has sports glasses and brings different legos to camp every day. "Everybody likes him," we were informed. Sure enough when Sarah went to pick them up today there was Connor bunny-hopping along behind Andre.

The Sleeper

I'm going to let the photos tell the story on this one. Some of you have probably seen some of these pictures before but I think seeing them together is even better. Connor, like many children, never admits to being tired. As these pictures suggest, he can be very persistent in holding to this claim even to the end. One of the things you'll notice, is that he likes to read in bed. Which is funny, because it's dark in there and he can't really read.

Change is a-comin'

Jamie has seemed quite reconciled to the fact that he is starting a new school this Fall. Perhaps surprisingly, I think that it actually helps that Connor is going to be at their old school still. This means that Jamie can think of it as a little-kids situation, just like when he left pre-school for St. C's.

But I think there is some anxiety. He won't say so exactly, but it may be emerging in other ways. Last week they went to a baseball camp in the mornings. Both seemed to enjoy it well enough, though Connor claimed otherwise, as always. It's not clear exactly how much baseball they actually played, since it was very hot and they also seem to have spent a lot of time on the playground, but whatever; it's all good. Jamie says he didn't do that well hitting because they threw underhand and he is better with overhand.

Anyway, this week Jamie is doing basketball and Connor soccer. Jamie had been initially extremely favorable about basketball, I think because he hears about me playing. But suddenly this weekend he became apprehensive, saying he was a little scared to start a new class at camp. When I took them this morning, it was a little chaotic and Jamie, quite uncharacteristically these days, was clearly anxious. I sat with them until the counselors got everybody together. Jamie was tearing up a little, but he was being so brave, he was really fighting it off and trying to stay cool. I think that this is really a bit of new school anxiety coming out with the camp, but I'm really impressed at how he's handling it, so I think that bodes well.