Things I Wasn't Ready For

Colin has been in school for three weeks now. This is the first time I've ever had a Kindergartener of my own, and it's been a few years (coughcoughtwentyfivecoughcough) since I was a Kindergartener - so when it comes to knowing what to expect out of this first year of school, I'm a little (okay, a lot) rusty. Even in three short weeks, there have been a lot of things that have come as kind of a surprise for me. Among them ...

He has a girlfriend. Up until this point, his only "girlfriend" was me, until I explained to him that it's just not possible. Oh, and Kiki from the Fresh Beat Band:

a él le gusta Latinas

So y'all can imagine my surprise when he mentioned his new girlfriend, G., who wears a Dora backpack and knows about Venus fly traps and has a loose tooth. They sit together at snack time and play together at recess. He beams with joy when you even mention her name. Yesterday he told me G. wasn't his girlfriend any more because she "talks too much about silly things" (at which point Curtis piped up and was all, "You'll have to get used to that, son, it's a universal trait"). Today, though? He held her hand on the way into the school. Held her hand. So my guess is, they're back on. But when did my baby get so grown up that he thought he needed to get himself a girlfriend? Wah!

He's clamming up. I've heard countless parents complain that their "What did you do in school today?" is met with an unsatisfying "Nothing." But I imagine this answer coming from, like, a surly teenager who slumps into the house without making eye contact and goes straight to his bedroom - not an energetic and bubbly little Kindergartener. Yet that's exactly what I get. It's like pulling teeth to get him to tell me anything about his day, which sucks, 'cause I'm dying for a play-by-play. I don't understand it: this is the kid that will tell the worker at the ice cream shop that he likes the rainbow-colored ice cream because it's not only tasty but it also makes his poop turn green and that's so cool and did you know that food coloring could do that?

But when I ask him what he did at school? I get a shrug. Or a "Nothing." Or an, "I'm busy, Mommy."

He has homework. Every Tuesday night is homework night. Granted, it's not much, but I didn't expect it this early. What's worse, he already hates doing it. If writing an easy spelling word a few times (which he could do with his eyes closed) hacks him off this much in Kindergarten, what am I gonna have to resort to when he's a high school kid with algebra homework?

He has a ... fundraiser?! When I pulled a large white envelope out of his backpack after school yesterday, I wasn't sure what it was. Information on school pictures, maybe? Then when I opened it I saw ... what's this ... an order form of some sort? And ... oh look, is that ... a catalog? Yes. A catalog of wrapping paper and candy and random gadgets: the school fundraiser. Already? In the first month of Kindergarten? Apparently so. 

And apparently, from what I hear, it's just the first of many. *sigh*


So yeah. All this has blindsided me, and we haven't even completed a full month of school yet. Is everybody so clueless this first time around, or am I just "special?"

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