Turner Tantrums

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hayden's First Day of Kindergarten









Well, Hayden started Kindergarten yesterday, August 24th, in Mrs. Buchanan's class. In preparation, his teacher came to meet him last Wednesday, and we dropped off his school supplies at the PTA ice cream social last Thursday night. He woke-up really well at 6:15, got ready for school, and was one of the first kids there. He just turned 5 in July, and is one of the younger and smaller ones in his class. He seemed just fine when we left him, although I could tell he was nervous because he kept misspelling his name on his Gecko paper that he was coloring. Kevin, Rowan, and I ate breakfast in the cafeteria with the other parents of kindergartners, and then we went home. Rowan said he wanted Hayden the second we got to the car. We picked Hayden up inside after school, and he immediately wanted to cry. He was holding his glasses that he had been chewing on, and his teacher told us that Hayden had a hard time leaving his towel behind at school. Hayden started to cry and say that he wanted to break in to the school that night and get his towel back and that his glasses were ruined, because they had his chew marks on them. We took him home, and Kevin tried to distract him by playing the Wii with him. I wanted to know every detail about the day, but the more I got out of him the less I wanted to know. He said that nobody cried but him. He didn't cry 100 times, but ten times. He didn't have a water bottle, so he drank out of the faucet, which tasted yucky. He only ate two of the things I packed in his lunch, because he couldn't get the rest of the packages opened. His friend Matthew opened his lunchable for him. He only went down the slide once, because it was sooo hot outside. He put rocks in a Gatorade bottle during recess with his friend, Phoenix. He didn't like the music they played in wellness class, so he covered his ears. He took a nap on his towel during computer story time, but he wasn't quite sure if it was really nap time. At one point he said everyone took a nap but him, and then he said he was the only one who took a nap, and that they didn't have nap time. Still not sure about that one. The teacher read a story about a sock puppet Monkey (Hayden used to be very afraid of sock puppets), but he said that it was really a monkey in the story and was like the sock puppet on the TV commercials. He said he wanted to take a day off and asked how long school was. He said he wasn't excited to go back the next day. He did say that his teacher was nice and that no one got in trouble, but that his friend yelled NO, NO, NO, at the teacher once. He said that there was a red-headed Lucas in his class (he knows a blond Lucas). He didn't mention any girls, except that his friend Olivia, from church, said Hi to him in wellness class (she's in a different class). Kevin said it sounded like he had a good day and already made a few friends. I just said that I would respond how Hayden did, and since Hayden was crying, I wanted to, too, but honestly, it all just sounded so ridiculously awful to me, that I was practically laughing in hysterics. Seriously, Hayden is the sweetest little guy there is, and he is so innocent and naive. He wouldn't know if somebody was making fun of him for crying or wearing glasses or anything like that, because that's just not how he thinks, at all. Kevin took him to school today, and the teacher said that Hayden did get hung up on a few things yesterday (he still wanted to break in to school at bedtime to get his towel back), but that none of the other kids seemed to be bothered by him getting upset. Hayden wanted to take his backpack to school today that has a dragon hood on it, because he wanted to wear the hood all day to hide his tears. Kevin also said that Hayden saw another boy with glasses on in school today that Hayden wanted to become friends with. Apparently, nobody else in his class wears glasses. Of course, Hayden is so blind, that he probably wouldn't be able to tell if there was. On that note, maybe he couldn't tell if other kids were crying, either, so maybe he wasn't alone in his tear-fest, after all. I am super proud of Hayden and for how brave he was for going back to school today. I know that he'll start to love it in no time!

2 comments:

Dan and Merideth said...

... Should I laugh or cry!?!?! That was so sad but funny all in one....
I'm speachless

Isabell said...

Well, it only took 6 days of school to get a call from the assistant principal about Hayden's behavior. Apparently, they are buds, and he walks Hayden around campus everyday to get him to calm down and stop crying. Unfortunately, Hayden started throwing chairs today, he was so upset. We are going to try having him meet with counselors and a new behavior chart for him. It just takes Hayden a lot longer for his anxiety to calm down and for him to get used to new things. However, once he gets over his anxiety, he's usually pretty darn awesome. Good news is, is that he's already very popular in a school of 1000 students. I mean, who can say that everyone knows their name after only 5 days of school?