First Day of School... !

I have taken WAY to long to do this post... I'm so sorry....

Thursday, August 27th, was the Open House at Butteview. Belle and I went after work and all it really was was chaos. Parents were tearing around getting their children signed up for the bus and for lunch. I had no idea what I was going for. I thought we were meeting the teacher and looking around. Chaos. We went in and met Belle's teacher, Mrs Montgomery. I asked her what I needed to do. She told me to go into the lunch room and sign up for lunch and the bus. So we go in there and there are two long lines. We hop in the lunch line. I put $20.00 down on lunches for Belle. Each lunch is $1.75. Ugh. The lunch lady tells me to "pound it into her head this is not breakfast money". I guess they have problems with the "Kindygartners" coming in in the morning from the bus and seeing the older kids eating breakfast and then go through the line and eat too. Then parents get a bill in the mail for the breakfasts. So, I pounded that in to Belle's head. (Haven't gotten a bill yet.) Then we went to the bus line. I had already called the bus garage so I knew what bus she would be on and what time it would come for her. All we had to do was fill out the paperwork. Belle had to sign a paper saying she would follow the bus rules. It was funny to watch her sign that paper. Then we went home.

Her first actual day of school was the following Monday, the 31st. She stayed at her dad's house Sunday night and he brought her to school. He said she wasn't acting nervous or scared. She was annoyed that he kept taking pictures of her, though.

Getting in the truck to head to school:

Here she is hanging her backpack on her hook:

Sitting at her desk:

The first thing she said to my parents when they picked her up was "someone stole my lunch". She was having "hot" lunch on the first day of school. The teacher walked everyone to the bathroom and told them to go potty and wash their hands. Of course, Belle didn't have to go to the bathroom, so she just headed to the lunch room. She got her lunch and sat down at the table and started eating. Then she realizes, Oh!... she does have to go potty. So, she gets up and heads to the bathroom. She comes back to her lunch and eats a bit and then sees other kids "goofing off" and so she gets up to "goof off" with them and comes back to her lunch and it is gone. The teachers had taken it and thrown it away, thinking she was done eating. Fair enough. She was starving the rest of the day. She asked my mom if she even had a mint for her to eat on the way home because she was so hungry. Lessons learned. She now goes to the potty before lunch and doesn't leave her seat until she is done eating.

Belle is a very slow eater and has a hard time just eating her food. I'm sure lots of kids are this way. She has told me that sometimes she doesn't eat all her food because she doesn't want to miss out on recess. I think this is sad, but someday she will learn to just eat her food instead of talking and teasing, and she will still have plenty of time for a good dose of recess.

She doesn't really come home talking about the great things that happen at school. I don't know what to think about this. I feel like I am quizzing her when I ask what happened. I ask about friends, because she doesnt talk about anyone in particular. She claims she doesn't talk to boys, but then when Annie was here, she whispered to her that she has a crush on Dakota, which means she "loves" him. ? She has PE on Mondays which Belle calls "excerise" and they go to the library and music on Thursdays. She doesn't like music because they can only use their bodies to make sounds and she wants to use instruments. She says when they go to the library, her whole class is alone in the library and there aren't any teachers. I find this hard to believe. I just really hope she is learning and not bored and is having fun and making friends.

Her school schedule is Monday, Thursday and every other Wednesday. She gets on the bus around 8:36am and gets home around 3:45pm.

Kindergarten is exhausting.