starting kindergarden

The days are getting shorter and the nights are growing cooler and the leaves on my beans are turning yellow. (Just when I was starting to get more than a couple of beans at a time as well).

Last week, our boy started Kindergarden. Mummies and Daddies got to stay on the first day. The children sang (Bonjour Mes Amis) and we heard the story of Pete the Cat ("I love my white shoes" is now stuck in my head). We all got to explore the classroom which is new this year and look at the new games and toys. Our boy made a beeline for the enormous floor construction equipment puzzle. And soon enough it was time for another song (Au Revoir Mes Amis) and time to go. The first day was only 30 minutes. Our boy is attending K in French Immersion and seems to be enjoying his class and new friends and playing on the playground. After a summer of adventures, the last 5 weeks at summer camp with beach picnics, learning to skateboard, trips to Science World, the Zoo, a local Museum, a Conservatory and lots of playing in water, it is time to settle into a new routine. And a new season of kid soccer starts this week and in a few more weeks, it will be time for swimming lessons again. This time our boy will move up to Ogopogos from Sharks. He's getting the hang of swimming (and kicking) which is great. He seems to be growing up in front of our eyes. He's already a head taller than he was at the beginning of the summer.



swing spinning at the park

But some struggles still remain. He still is fairly limited in what he will eat and what he will try and eat. He still fights bedtime with every fiber of his being, although once we get him there since Kindergarden started he does fall asleep much faster. And, as he has been around older children this summer, other issues have come to the fore. There has been some retreating on behaviours that we thought were done and gone. So our reserves of patience have been stretched thin (too thin sometimes) and we find ourselves feeling awful about things we've said or ways we've reacted. But our boy keeps on going - alternatively loving and charming ("I love you forever") or frustrated (I don't want to live here anymore) or cheeky (how about we make a deal?). He certainly keeps us on our toes. And to be fair - he's mostly a lovely, funny, smart boy but he does occasionally make me wonder "who is this child?". Maybe he wonders "who is this mummy?". And we make a deal - we want him to do his best everyday and we have to do our best as well, everyday. It's only fair.