So he started kindergarten. That is one of the biggest transitions our family has been through for awhile. Mind you we had lots of other transitions going on, but I think this was the largest that we've been through with one particular kid.
It was a rough start. The sleeping schedule alone was enough to wipe us all out. We are a family of night owls. We all enjoying staying up late and can do so without any problem. For the most part (before school) after late nights the boys would generally sleep in. So Friday nights would be family nights where we would stay up late and the boys would conveniently sleep in on Saturdays. We also frequently did this during the week in the summer. Even during preschool Josh's average bedtime was 9pm, and he would wake up just before 9am.
We went from that to him needing to be in bed by 8pm and be up by 7am. Quite the switch for all of us, especially me who was one tired pregnant mama and had enjoyed her boys letting her sleep in until 9am most mornings.
So we started kindergarten tired, and not getting as much family time as we were used to.
On top of that our very active and talkative 5 year old boy needed to transition into an environment where he was asked to be still and attentive the majority of 6 hours each day. I cringe for him.
But eventually he has to learn how to operate under this mindset because it's how the rest of the world functions. If we delayed the process he would be trying to figure it out later, when everyone else around him already had.
The first month and a half had him coming home with checkmarks or card flips (even worse than checkmarks) almost every day. Some things seemed silly (like not playing pretend guns on the playground, and not talking during lunch), and other things were a pretty big deal (like hitting and pushing other kids, regularly talking out of turn and not listening to his teacher). Did I mention it was rough?
We were trying everything we knew to, positive encouragement and rewards, consequences for getting in trouble, more quality time...all the things you're supposed to do that just take time. After much prayer and many days of feeling like a failure, finally something clicked. Josh had to make the choice to behave and we knew he was smart enough and capable of doing so. One day he finally just decided to do it.
We went overboard with praise and rewards. Then he did it again, and again. So far we've had 5 days in a row where he hasn't gotten any checkmarks or card flips. He's still averaging about once a week having something sent home, but from where we were that is a vast improvement. Generally it's the kind of issues he's going to spend a lifetime learning self control in, like talking out of turn.
All in all we're feeling as though we may survive kindergarten after all.
Other than discipline issues, Josh really enjoys school. Turns out he's kind of smart and catches on to everything very quickly. He can count to 100, and recognize the numbers as well as do basic addition. He's pretty much reading, although this is a bit hard to gage. He has a great memory and so just reading a book through once, he has almost all of it memorized. We're trying to throw lots of new words his way without any context (like pictures) to figure out what they are so he's actually sounding them out.
Other than that I feel like we're just now finding a groove to be able to really see him again. For awhile it was either school, baseball, homework, or bedtime. It's been nice to have some more time the last couple of weeks.
The last couple of afternoons we finish up his homework and I get dinner started and then we'll lay down on the couch and read Chronicles of Narnia together. So far I've been averaging about 2 chapters before he falls asleep on me. I love snuggling and having him fall asleep on me. I know my days are numbered of time like that.
He as always has some hilarious sayings, like "yesternight". If it happened yesterday night then it was "yesternight". I actually think it makes complete since and should be adapted into regular usage by society.
Last night we were laying in bed chatting and the "Cinderella" song by Stephen Curtis Chapman came on. He asked me if that was a princess, and I told him it was. I reminded him it was one of his friends Annabelle's favorite princesses, and he asks "the blue one?", of which I confirmed. He then told me that Cinderella wasn't his favorite princess, intrigued I asked why. "Because she's not as pretty, I like the mermaid one, she's really pretty." A little shocked my five year old boy was already gaging prettiness in girls I quickly rebounded explaining that what makes a girl beautiful isn't how she looks but what's in her heart. He seemed to understand although he insisted that the mermaid princess was prettier.
Interesting conversations in the Kelly house.
So that is a glimpse into Josh's world. Lots of change going on. I can really see how so many foundations for his teenage years are being put into place now. We keep joking that we're putting in the hard work now so hopefully it won't be as hard down the road. At least we're praying that's the case : )
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