At kindergarten orientation in the spring they gave each child a little packet of sunflower seeds. It had a little poem with it that said something about how by the time the sunflowers grow as tall as the child, it will be just about time for the child to start kindergarten. Miraculously, after planting, I did not kill this plant. Zay and Eliza watered it--even on rainy days--and it grew so enormous! By the time we took this picture, the weight of the flowers had folded the stems over, but they were probably about 8 feet tall or so. It was a fun little way to spend the spring and summer looking forward to school starting. 
And here he is, all ready to go! I spent WAY too much time on the "first day of school" sign. I am predicting right now that by about 3rd grade the sign will be just a quickly scrawled message; by 4th or 5th it'll be gone all together. But in the mean time, the excitement of having my oldest go off to school gave me enough motivation to waste a morning doing this.
Zay picked out his own backpack, which I fully intend to make him use for at least 3 years. I don't really get the point of getting a new one each year. Watch future pictures to see if I stuck with my resolve on this one. And, honestly, don't be surprised if he does get a new one and then this backpack shows up in Eliza's pictures. It's handy how they like the same things, although I suppose it's possible that being in school will make her realize all the things she likes are "boy" things. Until then I'm enjoying handing things down.
He also picked out his outfit. He is loving "sports clothes" lately, so he has like 8 outfits just like this one (in different colors). And he picked out his school shoes several months ago. He was really worried about kindergarten and up until the day before it started he'd tell anyone who asked that he was NOT going to go to school. The shoes helped because he knew he couldn't wear them unless he went. They are fire truck shoes, complete with wheels printed on the side, flames in the front, and flashing lights. (I broke my no-flashing-light-shoes rule in order to improve the chances of sticking with the children-attend-school rule).
We live about three blocks from the school so we walk there when we can. Two days a week Eliza has preschool and the drop-off times are so close that we end up driving. And one day a week she has dance class so we drive on that day as well. But we walk for drop-off the other two days, and walk for pick-up time every day. He stays after school one day a week for the Lego club he's in, and in January he'll also stay another day for a soccer class. He has a hard time starting new things so even when it's something he loves, like Lego's, he still struggles. He has gotten SO much better this past year; he tries lots of new things that in the past he wouldn't even have considered. We're so proud of him!
They line up in the foyer area and are supervised by Mrs. Travis until the kindergarten teachers come to get them and walk them down to their classrooms. We weren't early enough on the first day, but almost every day since then Zay wants to go super early so that he can be the line leader. I think there have only been one or two times that he hasn't been first. It's slightly annoying to sit around and wait that long, but he loves it and I'm happy to oblige when it comes to things that make him excited about school!
There are 6 kids in our ward in kindergarten at his school. On the first day, 5 of them were all in Zay's class. But a week or so later they added an additional kindergarten class because the classes were so large and all of those kids ended up in the new class. Part of me wanted to have him switch too because then at least he'd know some of the children in his class, but his teacher was such an awesome fit for him that I didn't really seriously consider it. She has been wonderful with him! Her sense of humor is quite similar to mine, so he "gets" her and has been pretty comfortable with her from the start. Plus, she really likes him, which definitely makes a difference. I've been a bit disappointed with the lack of extra work they've given him--he's been reading for 2 years and is doing 2nd grade math at home--but that seems to be the way things go in Kindergarten at his school. I'm hoping next year, when he's full day, they'll be able to give him more challenging work. So many things come easily to him that when he is faced with something difficult, he doesn't always know how to react. I'd love for him to learn those skills as a young kid rather than struggling with them later on. He is such a funny, smart little guy and it's been awesome watching him change and grow this year.
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