My baby is a Kindergartener!

A new outfit picked out by little man

Overjoyed little boy who is now going to school with the BIG kids!

Obligatory pictures with the princess (cuz big brother still had the day off!)

Which hand for the pledge?

Off I go (poor mom missed a pick of the kiss!)

 Going into my class and unpacking my bag!

Telling me all about his friends, the classroom, and their first project The Kissing Hand!

Only 3 hours of Kindergarten but a gigantic step from baby to boyhood!

First let me say it was kind of a strange day!  My sweet little man started Kindergarten today.  I stood in the cafetorium with about a thousand other people and watched as my little angel, the one who I have spent countless hours worrying about, traveling across the country for a diagnosis, and fretting over every bit of his well being.  BUT today he entered Kindergarten and walked off with is friends turning to blow me a sweet little kiss.  Normally I think I would have stood there with the other mothers and balled, but I also realized that although he is my baby, I have two others coming.  Soon, my baby will actually be our middle child.  So I sent him with all my love, my admiration for his incredible spirit and prayers that he wouldn't say anything so inappropriate that he got to meet the new principal before he had the chance to charm her!  Is that so weird!

Pure Joy!

One nice part of having 3 children each 4 years apart is that our little guy reminds my 'old' mind how special and innocent the days of a preschooler . . . kindergartener are -

$2 from allowance and a ride from mommy that took 2 days to acquire = JOY!

The Great Kindergarten Bus Adventure

I often get asked what accomodations we make for little man's dwarfism.  Entering Kindergarten has really brought his need for accomodations to the fore front.  We have had to coordinate with his teacher, physical therapists and his Doctors.  We are still working on the 504 etc.  Regardless, most of his accomodations at school have more to due with his joints and chronic pain than with the short stature of his dwarfism.  That being said today was a hallmark day!

Our kids go to a K-12 school!  It's very cool and new!  The best part of this is that our big boy (7th grade) starts school at the same time as the elementary kids, so K-8 ride the same bus.  I am sure there have to be other kids on this earth that LOVE the bus as much as mine.  SO little man has been waiting years to be able to join the big kids on the bus.  There is jsut no way he would tolerate being on a different (ie short bus.)  Besides the regular bus stops at the end of our driveway . . . oh and school is only a mile down the road.  But still it's the BUS!!  We realized mid last year that this could potentially be a huge problem as he wouldn't be anywhere the 35 lb weight limit.  Luckily, our school district is amazing, and they were willing to work with us on his size.

So today we went over to the bus barn (heehee school starts Monday and they wanted to give him the most amount of time to grow LOL!).  I have been having nightmares that he would never be able to manage the huge first step.  Some school districts have required children with dwarfism to be able to step up on the bus themselves or they couldn't ride.  So even having our big boy there wouldn't help.

I was beyond thrilled that they have us scheduled for a regular bus that has steps closer to the ground (not the gigantic ones).  Little man did NOT have a single problem getting onto that bus!  One hurdle down now onto his weight.

Since we jsut had our huge Dr's appointment I knew he was still only 27 lbs.  Our fabulous district has outfitted the bus with integrated child seats.  THey are 5 point seat belt harnesses which are built right into the seat (caravan's once featured them.)  Little man was able to get up into the seat and close his seatbelt like a big boy!

Best of all the pull down gives him jsut a little bit extra boost.  His hands are still not strong enough to undo the seat belt so either the bus driver or my sweet 7th grader will (or his adoring public - our big boy's friends!!)

I know this doesn't seem like a huge deal to most.  But for us, it is one less disappointment we have to deal with.  For little man it's a step to independence and for mommy, I am a little worried how I am going to do sending my sweet angel off to school!