So long, Kindergarten

Kindergarten is officially a wrap!

Where in the world has my tiny baby boy gone and who is this sweet, sensitive, kind, inquisitive soul who resides in his ever taller, skinny body?

This year X has not only grown several inches taller but has grown ever more into the young man we love discovering more about each day.

He has learned how to take those letters and sounds he knew and turn them into words he can read and write.  Ever the overachiever, like his mom, he knows he has more to learn and has a hard time admitting he is a reader.  Even though he is reading a grade level ahead, he doesn't see it as his strength.

He can add, subtract and craft word problems. Math is his favorite subject (after PE and recess, of course) and he feels it is best thing he has accomplished this year.

Ever the scientist, he has been able to expand his repetoire of facts and learn to ask even deeper questions.  I'm still not sure if he knows there is more to the school library beyond the 590s. His school librarian will have her collection development skills put to the test soon when he has checked out everything the school owns.

He has learned how to give speeches and share his knowledge coherently with his peers and adults.

X has learned he needs quiet time and often chooses to sit alone at lunch to recharge.  However, he is easily distracted in class, because he is a watcher and needs to learn strategies to get work done in a timely matter (oh, what happened to Kindergarten being easy and social?!?)

This school year X bowled on a team with his cousin.  He learned the rules of the game, good sportsmanship, and can even outscore me (not hard).  He won an award for best handicap in the game when he earned his first strike.

At the start of the school year, we took trips to the Black Hills and Yellowstone, as well as watched a Wyoming Cowboys football game.

Over spring break, we drove to the beach (Oceanside, CA). We went to the aquarium and X went on a whale watching boat trip, where they saw "only about 210 dolphins who were stampeding".

X started the year as an only and ended school as a big brother of not just one but two little sisters.  He dotes on them, calls them beautiful, and can't wait for the end of the school day when he can see them again.  His love for his sisters has opened him to being more willing to show his affection for us more openly and in public.

 

This year X also learned that sometimes those we love leave this world, but they are always with us. As X told us, "always in our memories and our hearts."

I can't believe this school year is over and that this boy of mine will be a 1st grader... after a summer full of his favorite things (movies, swimming, and camping!)