First Day of School...Sort of

Wednesday was Kindergarten Orientation. Not to be confused with Kindergarten Round-Up. That took place in May. Or Kindergarten Registration. That took place following Kindergarten Round-Up. No, Kindergarten Orientation was what we had yesterday and consists of everyone dressing their child in new school clothes only to go to school for one hour, parents sitting in tiny chairs listening to the teachers explain discipline procedures, snack sign-up, and how to pick up the children in an orderly fashion, while the children learn proper bathroom-requesting techniques and other equally critical information. In truth I think the whole thing was a clever ruse to keep parents from clogging the classroom on the REAL first day of school in order to ascertain that same information.

It was a little unnerving to walk into the room, knowing that the kindergarten staff has already heard all about your child. Based on the information they had they certainly would have preconceived ideas about him...and us. ("Ah, so THAT'S him. And THOSE are his parents.") It was hard not to be paranoid. Honestly, I was more nervous about the impression we made on the staff than I was about anything else. We have had many hurtful experiences in the last month and it really has put me on the defensive.
I think I mentioned before that we already knew to which teacher he was assigned. We had never really actually met her, however. I was so glad to finally do so. I have really high hopes for his success in her classroom. She is just about the most perfect fit for him that one could ask for, praise God.
Our last classroom experience was so unique, it was hard to know what to expect when seeing him in a group of "normal" children, all strangers. He was a bit hesitant at first to leave for the other room with all the kids, but he said goodbye as he did so -- which is a big thing, in and of itself. He also waved to us upon his return. The children were asked to sit on a rug full of colored squares and, lo and behold, he held out for an orange square, his favorite color, despite having to sort of squish into that spot. He's so particular about those sorts of things! I wouldn't be surprised if he sat in that exact square all year long!
Overall, he did very well with his little hour of school -- it was afterward that was a nightmare. All the conflicting emotions and new situations and information to process left him in quite a manic state. He was wild and angry and a big flailing mess all day long. I'm counting on tomorrow afternoon, following his first full day of school, being just as bad. I'm very confident that he will be fine while he is actually at school. That's just the way it works...until he gets bored. We'll just watch and see! Another thing of which I'm confident? He is SO ready to be at school. And I am SO ready for him to be there!
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In other news, we continue to plod our way through the five hour RDI DVD. We can only do so much at a time, as we rarely have time together and it is A LOT of information to process...especially after a long day. It looks like it would be such a wonderful program for him, if we could actually implement it. And afford it. Its in my prayer journal, to be sure!

Also, be sure to check out the update on our adoption site!