knitting librarian

My boss generously allowed me to come in late today for our 9th graders’ first day of school so that I could see AJ off to Kindergarten. I was really worried that I was going to be an emotional wreck, but I barely shed a few tears once he was inside the building.

We got up and got dressed, had breakfast and then I took Zoe to daycare while AJ and John finished up breakfast and went out to wait for the bus. We waited for nearly 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. It got to the stop about 25 minutes late. We took pictures of AJ and our neighbor Destin who is going into second grade this year. Apparently, like us, every parent putting their child on the bus today took pictures before and after their kids boarded, so they were running way late. After the bus rolled out, John and I drove up to a nearby parking lot and left his car there so we could go wait for the bus at the school. We waited there for another 10 or 15 minutes. I’m not even sure that AJ would have noticed us there if it weren’t for us calling his name. They were very organized, calling the kindies off the bus first and escorting them in separate from the rest of the children. He couldn’t tell me much about his day initially other than he’d had strawberry milk and chicken nuggets for lunch. The best part of his day was riding the bus. The next best part was seeing his friend Garrett from preschool during the after school care program. After some time, he did recall that they’d heard the book The Kissing Hand, gone to art class, and laid down for a rest—oh, and he also had corn and apples with cinnamon at lunch. Tonight at bedtime we kissed each other’s palms so we’ll have kisses if we need them. (Love that book!)

Tonight AJ’s school had its end-of-year celebration. The four different preschool childcare classrooms each performed a song or two or three. The kids were adorable. AJ usually avoids singing but lately he’s gotten better about that—I’ve even caught him singing on his own without anyone around to be an audience. They sang a song based on the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and one about a turtle that I don’t recall the title of (or any of the words.) John played videographer while I held Zoe so we ended up with a lot of pictures and he switched back and forth between video and the camera so we got a little of each during the performance.

I got this puzzle made from an M. C. Escher print from someone on Freecycle(TM) this week and took it in to school yesterday. The kids were intrigued by it and were unable to resist asking questions about it and working on it. It was so funny to listen to them talk about the images. (The puzzle is only 40 pieces and each piece is one of the creatures or objects pictured.)

When a few puzzles were offered this week, I jumped on them saying I’d like to put them in my library. I figured it would give the kids something constructive and meaningful to do for a change. It’s good problem solving skills to do puzzles.

Since putting the puzzle out yesterday after lunch, at least 8 different groups of kids have stood or sat at the table and worked on the puzzle. Most wanted me to see it when they completed it. The ones who ran out of time and had to return to class before they got it finished took it apart so no one else would “get credit for (their) work!”

I even had a sales rep in to show me some books today and we sat at the table where the pieces were and he couldn’t keep his hands off of it while I was up and down helping kids check out or deal with computer problems. I’m so glad that I picked them up from that fellow Freecycle member!

It’ll be interesting to see if they decide to do some of the other puzzles I got as well.