Aaaaaand They're Off!

And BOY is it quiet in this house!! As I noted on Facebook, I have gone well over an hour now without once hearing "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Um, Mommy?" and I am OKAY with that! :) Seriously, no tears over here.

Joseph was excited, but in a nonchalant sort of way. Didn't want me to walk him to his room or anything. I *did* hop over to tell him he could go play while he waited for the bell to ring, instead of just waddling around by his backpack for 15 minutes. Off he trotted, happy as a goofy little clam!

Josh was.. well, Josh, as you can plainly see. His blessing this morning said he'd learn how to rein that in at the appropriate times, so that will be good. We've had several people tell us he's got the cream of the crop, teacher-wise. Parents and former students alike heard us say her name and started gushing. I'm VERY happy about that. I think Josh needs that. He was similarly disinterested in being walked to his class, but made a first day of school concession so we could at least see his teacher (no Meet the Teacher Nights in CA!). Classroom was closed and teacher was nowhere to be found, so Josh also trotted happily off to go play until bell time.

Ben was fine until we found his class line. Then he had a classic Ben anxiety attack. Shaking and pulling away and going white and all that. However, it has gotten a LOT better. He didn't clam up SO hard that he wouldn't even talk through it. So we talked. Daddy gave advice, Mommy gave advice, Ben listened, Ben talked. Eventually he looked around and saw two kids from his Primary class who are in his class (I AM SO STOKED ABOUT THAT!!!) and felt calmer. Then the door opened and he got right in line and was fine. It was good.

By the time Matt & I walked back the way we had come, the other two boys were already in class. We figure it must have seemed odd to the Kindergarten crew that we weren't even hovering outside the fence to watch our baby trot inside. It's likely Joseph was the only one without a camera following his every move. But we know our kids. Ben needed us, Joseph didn't. And one day Big Brother will install webcams in every classroom to satisfy parental voyeurism.

Until then, we're all fine.

And it's QUIET.