2013_08_08 Thursday

Jonathan is such a hoot. He insists that he wear his new dino watch, even though he struggles to get it on and can't read it yet. The watch is red on the right half and green on the left half, so I've been working with him to count by fives and either read it as hr:(0-30) or (5-25) 'til the next hour. It's tricky! He had a new shirt picked out last night but did a last minute change because he couldn't get the tag off, and didn't want my help. Now, he totally doesn't match (sound like anyone?) in brown/orange plaid and red shirt, but he did it by himself. I guess that's the important part.

We made it to the bus stop a bit earlier than yesterday but are still cutting it a little close. I think we were about 1 minute early. Doesn't lend itself to too much socializing with the other parents, so I may try for a few minutes earlier still. We are the farthest away from the stop, though.

Oh, what excitement [this afternoon]! Jonathan got off the bus at the wrong stop (one early)! So, while he's typically the first on/off the bus, I waited and waited. Finally, I got on the bus to see if he got distracted. The kids have to sit in grade order, so when I got to a friend's son in 2nd grade, I knew something was up. He told me, quite unconcerned, that Jonathan had already gotten off. I though, "huh, now what?" Then my phone rang. It was a mom (of a classmate, actually!) who had him at the previous stop. We met half-way down the road. I praised Jonathan to the hilt on what a great job he did handling what could have been confusing/scary and how proud I was that he remembered my phone number and asked a grown up for help. He said he looked for me, and when I didn't show up, he started walking down the street to the right stop (which he knew because he could see the bus) but a mom stopped him; he told her he had made a mistake and asked her to call me, all the while keeping his composure. I'm so proud....we had popcicles when we got home to celebrate. The kicker was that most of the parents at the bus stop (mostly 1st grade parents) were surprised that he knew my phone number. In thinking about it, especially because we are in a new place (2 weeks now), having him know how to get in touch with me in "an emergency" (which this really was not) is really important.

That morning, I got this teacher (Ms Emerson) report:
Good morning, Parents!  Welcome to 1st grade!  We had an outstanding day yesterday.  What a delightful class we have!  The kids worked hard yesterday and enjoyed getting to know each other.  For the remainder of the week, we will continue to go over rules and procedures and to discuss striving for strong character.  Thank you so much to everyone who came on Monday night and everyone who has donated wish list items and extra class materials.  I am so grateful!  A special thanks to X's mom who spent half the day here on Tuesday helping to get our classroom ready for opening day.  :)