Monday, August 2, 2010

School is Coming...Freak Out Time!!

I woke up this morning and realized Wyatt is starting kindergarten in two weeks!!! Yikes, how did this sneak up on me? I feel a little overwhelmed trying to make sure he's ready. This is complicated by the fact that I've never had to get a kid ready for school and I'm not really sure I know what all the steps are.

We have the list of stuff to buy, and got most of it in the States during our vacation (I think our relatives thought it a little weird we spent so much of our time shopping, but there was no way I was going to waste an opportunity to visit a decent store). We made sure to buy him some new sneakers as he outgrew his old ones months ago and there was really no reason to replace them. We don't wear shoes much here. He isn't allowed to wear sandals to school, though, so we had to remedy his lack of sneakers. Although, I forgot about socks...yikes, I hope he still has some left.

There are still a few things left, like the paint smock I so boldly decided to make by cutting down one of Oliver's no longer needed uniforms. I also need to call and get an appointment with the doc here to have Wyatt do his school physical (which wasn't mentioned at all when we registered him, but sent out in a mass email a few days ago).

Luckily, that won't be any trouble. Routine medical care here is very easy to get, which is nice. You don't have to make an appointment for acute care, although you are dealing with weird hours. The doc is always on call, though, so for a real emergency, you can call dispatch and they will get you hooked up. My kids are pretty healthy so we haven't had to use it much, but I do so appreciate the few times I've taken them in there for weird skin issues (tropical life and new bugs made for some nasty rashes the first few months we got here). I waked in, was seen within five or so minutes, and left within 15, medication in hand. This is definitely going to be something I miss when we move.

Anyway, back to school. I'm supposed to label everything I got for him. That's all the guidance I got. I can remember a friend back in WA telling me she had been told to do every marker, etc. Wow. Is that what you really have to do? If so, I'm not looking forward to the labeling session. I'll definitely be enlisting Oliver's help with that one. Hopefully, we have some masking tape around here because I have no idea how to do this otherwise. I'm beginning to understand why someone would own a label maker...

Basically, I'm a wreck right now, more so than when we were trying to make the decision of whether or not to send him. I'm really stressed out about the first few weeks. We've already decided to burn some of his allowed tardies and not send him back to school after lunch if he's having a really hard time adjusting. I am hoping,though, that he is ok and has enough fun that it won't take much coaxing to get him to go back.

Sigh. So begins the school years. Ah, how I have been dreading these years! And yet, there is a part of me that is excited for him, too, even if it does mean breaking up the cozy little nest we've had at home for the last five years. I know he's ready for this, and even though I suspect he's going to fight us some on it, I believe it's ultimately going to be very good for him. I just hope we all survive it when it's not going so well...

5 sonar pings:

Anonymous said...

Have you thought about just labeling directly on the markers and packages with permanent marker. It works well (and if you just use a last name) it doesn't preclude others in your family from making use of hand me downs.

Ana said...

I did think of using a Sharpie or something, but wasn't sure if the marker would eventually rub off. I will probably give it a try, though.

Jenny said...

I've got markers about 15 years old with my name in Sharpie still on them.

Anonymous said...

Lillie starts Kindergarten one week from today. I can't believe the time has flown by so fast. We haven't gotten a list or any instruction actually. I am hoping we don't have to label everything because we don't get the list until the day before school starts. Label makers are wonderful btw. We use them to label David's stuff that goes to the ship.

The Mrs said...

You will be fine, he will be fine. There will most likely be rough days but everyone will live through it and they will be much less frequent than the great days. It is sad to see the end of a chapter in the book of life. But it is exciting to be starting a new one! I was feeling the same way last year when Steven was starting 1/2 day kindie. Now he's going to first grade and it's starting to hit me that he will be gone for most of the day 5 days a week. We'll all live through this thing called school but it is definitely a long road ahead. You can do it!