Today is Matty's big first day: first day of kinder. We woke up early yesterday, excited to find out who his teacher was going to be. He woke up early today (and is currently taking a nap), excited for his first day of real school.
For Danny, this is becoming old hat. There was some anxious moments yesterday as we were receiving news that all of his friends from kinder and 1st grade were not in his 2nd grade class. With 6 classes comprised of entirely 2nd graders and 1 class of half 2nd graders/half 1st graders, we knew that there would not be a lot of old friends, but we were not expecting a shutout. He even said a prayer during dinner that he would have just one friend. After his bath, we found out that one of his hanging-out-after-school buddies, Wyeth, was going to be in his class. Phew.
Nevertheless, Danny was happy that he was going to see all his school friends that he hasn't seen since the school year ended. And Matty was excited that one of his two best friends, Oliver, was going to be in his class (sadly, Scotty is not going to Marengo).
Danny's teacher is Ms. Webb. She used to teach 5th grade. There has been a lot of reshuffling of teachers at Marengo just to accommodate the 2nd graders since it is, by far, the largest class at the school. The only thing we know about Ms. Webb is that she was very popular with the students she had in 5th grade and that she's an upbeat, high-energy teacher. We hope that she's a better match than Voldemort she-who-must-not-be-named. In addition to Wyeth, Danny has one other friend from his kindercare days, Vincent, in his class.
And then there's Meena.
Last year, they sat next to each other. Things got so tense between Danny and Meena, that he asked for her to be moved and that he have a different seatmate (the sweet as can be Maya). Several weeks later, Danny confided to Mary that he wanted Meena sitting next to him again. And thus, the rom-com starring Danny and Meena started to unfold.
Once Matt (he told his teacher that is what he wants to be called this year) got to his classroom, he was still excited but still a little nervous, too. He started to warm up with the songs and raised his hand waaaay up into the air, hoping to get called on by his teacher.
Speaking of his teacher(s), they are Ms. Omine (pronounced oh-me-nay, she's the one with her back to the camera) and Ms Vaden (the tall woman just to the right of Mary's head). They are really great friends (they were friends before they started teaching together) and are super nice.
For Matty, it was a short day; kinder gets sent home after an hour or so. He opted to go home rather than do his first day kindercare since his friend Elliott wasn't going today. Mary is trying to convince Oliver's mom to send Oliver to kindercare, too. Matty came home, had his lunch that Mary packed -- which was so good he wanted to know who made it -- and promptly took a nap on our bed. It was a huge day for him.
