the first day, and beyond!

Well, we did it!! We started school and are surviving. Will did great on his first day, no tears.... from him! Eli and I both cried the whole way home. Eli was yelling/crying "Will!!!!" as we left the school, and asked about him the entire way home. He's not used to leaving his big brother without him. Will did great though and had so much fun. He told me all about it and was really excited, so that was great.
I asked for a thumbs up and this is what I got. Perfect. Will is such a fun kid, and I'm so proud of him, he's really done a great job adjusting to school. I can tell it has been an adjustment. He gets home and is bouncing off the walls or totally wiped out. He's had several more meltdowns since school has started and I can tell that it is a big change for him. However, with the adjustments, he is happy to go to school everyday and looks forward to it. He really likes his teacher and I do too, she is awesome. She's also in our ward! We love it, that means a little extra attention. :)
Will attends a charter school, less than a mile from our house. It's great. We carpool with a friend here in our neighborhood and so far it's working out perfect. Uniforms are required for the charter school, so we've had a lot of fun putting things together. Luckily, the uniform policy is not too hard or strict. It is certain colors on top with khaki or navy on bottom. They can wear shorts or pants and the shirt has to have a color and buttons. It is nice, some days we can dress super comfy and not out of the ordinary and other days we can spruce things up a bit... depending on the mood. :)
I just can't get over this cute face. What a big boy he is growing up to be! With the cute uniforms, I've been taking pictures every day before school for over a week now, so that's why I've been slow at posting about our first day.
Eli always wants in on the pictures, it is so funny. I love this picture (above) with Will looking so daper and Eli cruising around in his diaper and Will's shoes.

On Mondays, the dress code is a little different. Mondays are called "performance days" and the dress code is the same for everyone. Monday is a day for everyone to dress especially nice, with school plaid, white shirts and navy pants, all in an effort to remind the kids in school that it's important to do their best and start the week out great and working hard. It's so cute to see the kids on Mondays in performance dress, they all look so cute. I love the school plaid, and sometimes secretly wish I had a girl to wear the cute plaid skirts. :)
The kids are also supposed to dress nice and wear performance dress on field trips. Apparently it helps kids behave better and easier to spot! I believe it.
Another thumbs up from Will... and a fingers up from Eli! (that's how Eli does thumbs up!)

We are loving Will's school so far and are really glad that he got into the charter school. Their programs are really great and I love their curriculum. More than anything, I love that the school is small. At the public school, Will would have had 31-34 kids in his class! At the charter school they only allow 19-20 per class. I was dying, that is TOO many kids in one class. I also really like the charter school because they ask for parents to volunteer frequently and I feel like that is really important. I get to help out in class twice a month at the charter school. At the public school they only let me sign up for ONE day the entire year??? We really like the focus on language and arts in the charter school as well. Will had art, music, and language all his first week of school. It is fun to hear him come home and talk about the most famous artists are..... and then he rattles off all sorts of facts and types of art they learned about. He is learning Spanish in languages right now, I'm totally amazed and proud of what he has learned so far. He constantly surprises me. They will have 3 months of Spanish, 3 of Chinese and 3 of Arabic. Pretty amazing.

So that's that. First day over and here we go! Oh, and I'm LOVING afternoon kindergarten. I would recommend it to anyone. Especially with the first child. It makes our mornings calm and easy-going, still time to go to the park or library, or run errands. Then lunch before school, Will leaves for school and Eli goes down for a nap = 3+ hours of quiet for mom. :) I love it, I get a lot done while he is gone and Eli is asleep, and then when he gets home, we can just play, go outside, etc. I figured that if we could spare ourselves one more year of not having to rush out the door by 8am, then I was going to. So far, it's great for all involved.