School!

Austin is officially a KINDERGARTNER! Kindof. His school says you need to be 5 before mid September to enter Kindergarten. And he just missed the cutoff. BUT they also offer Transitional Kindergarten, for kids turning 5 between the cutoff day and December. So that means there is an extra class comprised of older 4s, who get a practice year before they start for real. And this sounded great to us. He started last Wednesday, the 12th and goes for a half day until September, when they'll go for full days. So here's a mosaic of pictures all about his first week of school :)

 

Starting on the top left corner and working clockwise:

We are close enough to walk him to school, which is awesome. Sophie has gone with us every day, but her legs don't seem to work at 8 AM

All the Kinders are supposed to line up in the morning when the bell rings. Austin used to be afraid of the bell, so I was a little worried he still would be. But when he heard it that morning, he looked up at me and exclaimed, "It's not scary!"

Every morning, I draw a little picture to put in his lunch. Which he occasionally eats a little bit of.

Here he is emerging at the end of the school day. 

That evening, we took him to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his first day of TK and Sophie's first week of preschool without her brother.

We gave them each a little present. Austin got a copy of "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He likes Hungry Mungry.

Meeting the principal! 

His school mascot is the owl, so on the first day of school, the lawn had a whole herd of those plastic owls you get to scare pigeons. Daddy and I wondered if any schools are the flamingos.

And in the center, I took a picture of the quarter someone has glued to the sidewalk on our journey to school. Poor Austin was extremely sad and confused about why someone would do this <3